Contra Mundi
by KrautVanWolfenstein
Summary: He was born innocent, yet he wields the power of the enemy. His destiny will see him to be hated and loved at the same time. But what fate awaits him in the end? Will he be the enemy or the true savior that the mankind deserve? He is not a Nova, he is not a limiter and he definitely is not a Pandora. What is he? He is 'the enemy of the world'.
1. Birth of the Beast

**First of all, I wanted to say I am very sorry for the late update and also for not being able to update my Fallout New Vegas- Fate Stay Night Crossover "He Is My Victory, My Excalibur". I just got this nasty cold with even a nastier fever. The work from my office was not helping me either. Rest assured, I am getting better, and I am still working with some parts for the new chapter of that crossover. But I must warn you that the updates may not be as fast as it used to be.**

**Secondly, while I was recuperating, I read this manhwa "Freezing", authored by the talented Lim Dall-Young. Although I found the story to be nice and the bo….ahem 'fanservice' to be nice also (don't judge me, please), I couldn't stand the characters. Thankfully, friends of mine recommended a nice Freezing crossover, authored by the great Alpine992. Because of him and his crossover, I am inspired to make this crossover.**

**Be warned, that I only used very little reference from Monster Hunter games. More chapters will only have reference from Freezing, although the main character from this crossover will change many parts from the story, but not too substantially. I also liked to apologize for my mistakes in referencing some parts from the Indian Epoch, "Bharatayudha". I knew that it was Indian and not Indonesian, but for the sake of my story, I deviated a lot from it. Once again, I am very sorry for that.**

**Thirdly, about the romance in this story….well, it is hard to say since the main character will be very different than the characters in the freezing universe. Still, just hope that he will get a good romance in this crossover.**

**Fourthly, I do not own Monster Hunter or Freezing. They are owned by their respective owners.**

**Finally, to Lim Dall-Young, if you are reading this, know that I have no grudge on your story or your characters. I have only admiration for your works. I only have bone to pick with some of your characters. So I am terribly sorry if this crossover offended you.**

**That's all I wanted to say. Thank you for your attention and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Birth of the Beast**

"_Insufferable fools!" shouted a man in the dimly lighted room. The light from various screens and glass tubes could only provide a little illumination to the dark room. The man's spectacles glowed from the reflection of the light produced by the computer screen before his face._

"_You may rob me of my job!" He mumbled incessantly. Fury was rich in his tone._

"_You may rob me of my lifeworks!" His conversation with the shadows continued as he tapped some keys on the keyboard of the terminal, inputting commands into the machinery._

"_You may rob me of my reputation." The light produced by the unknown liquid within the glass canisters began to glow in eerie light of green._

"_Destroy my credibility!" Spits were launched wildly from his lips, staining the monitor in front of him. His fingers danced a mad dance on the keyboard._

"_Strip me from my wealth!" His elbow accidentally hit piles of paper on the table, scattering them on the floor. The flickering lights of the screens and canisters revealed the contents of the papers: inscriptions, and equations._

"_Even left me to die!" Venom and hate filled his every word. His tapping on the keys had changed into simply hammering the buttons on the keyboard. Feral growls were coming out of his lips, interjecting every sentence he finished._

_The flicker from the computer screen and the glass canisters flashed the room momentarily, revealing more and more the interior of the room. Big machineries strapped on the walls and on the floor. Screens covered some parts of the wall while cables and electrical wirings strewn messily on the ground. Any free spaces on the wall were covered with research papers that were tacked onto the wall. Some of the papers were filled with more inscriptions and equations. Others had pictures in them. The light flashed once again, unveiling the pictures into a better view. The pictures contained in the papers were disturbing, for those were the pictures of unknown creatures in the world. Some pictures depicted creatures with wings and creatures with massive claws. Some illustrated creatures with too many arms and too many appendages. The rest were utterly revolting for they portrayed creatures with too many tentacles, to many teeth and too many eyes all over their bulbous bodies._

_The hammering of the keys began to crack the buttons. His fingers were wounded because of his action and blood began to ooze out from his broken and cracked fingertips._

"_BUT. YOU. ARE. NOT. TO. TAKE. AWAY. MY. LOVE!" the man roared in the darkness. He banged his fist on the terminal with every word that he pronounced. The final hammering left the man perspiring. Yet, his fury was still burning hot, as hot as molten lava._

"_DAMMIT!" He brought his fist down on the table once again, causing a photo frame on the monitor to fall with a loud noise. The man picked up the photo frame from the floor. Pieces of broken glass fell from the frame as the man brought it up. He pulled out a photo within the frame and light from the monitor fell on the picture. The light revealed a photo of a sitting and smiling beautiful young woman. She was dressed in an elegant long gown of white. Her blue eyes were seemed to be fixed directly to the eyes of anyone who looked at the picture, as if the person inside it was alive and staring directly to her beholder. Although she fully clothed in graceful dress of white, the clothing could hardly hide the woman's curvaceous figure that clearly was most bountiful. Still, the most exotic thing that attracted the most attention was her long beautiful blond hair. Long locks of gold flowed freely from her head to her waist. Her almost immaculate face, as if it was crafted from the purest of pearls, sported a small but warm smile. It was truly a picture of an angel!_

"_Maria." The mas spoke. His furious expression changed into a face with a sad smile. He caressed the picture softly with his fingers. "Oh, Maria..." He choked while putting the picture on his lips. His voice was a voice of sadness and longing. Tears were running across his cheeks. Droplets of water started to trickle down on the photo, staining it with tears._

"_Why did you choose that man over me, while he could only offer you death?" The man wailed. "Oh, dear Maria..."_

_Suddenly, one of the monitor began to beep, its flicker flared in repetitive rhythm, indicating the commands that was inputted earlier had yielded its intended results._

_The man stopped his wailing and wiped away his tears in the corner of his eyes. He fixed his spectacles to its proper position on the bridge of his nose. He snorted loudly, clearing his nostrils. As he calmed down and his vision began to clear, He set his sight on the words displayed on the computer screen._

_/PROTOCOL-XOZ-STATUS:-SCANNING-100/100/_

_/SAMPLES-Z-VARIANTS-A-TO-Z:-100/100/_

_/CONCLUSION: SAMPLES-UNTAINTED-AND-READY-TO-BE-INJECTED-ON-LIVE -HOSTS/_

_/COMMENCE-INJECTION?:-Y/N-/_

_The man tapped on the directional keys on the terminal. The Y letter was highlighted. His right hand moved from its previous position on the directional buttons, to just above the enter key. His hand stopped for a moment before his forefinger stamped on the button with great force, as if he was trying to pierce the button with his nail._

_/COMMENCING-INJECTION/_

_/INJECTION-COMPLETED/_

_/ESTIMATED-TIME-FOR-RESULTS:-07.00-HOURS/_

_The man let himself to fall on his chair. He slumped on it while pulling away his glasses. He covered his eyes with his forearm while letting his head to lay back. His long unkempt gray hair was left hanging._

"_Even after you chose that man over me, I still have feelings for you." He said somberly. "It is okay for me, as long as you are happy."_

"_Yet..."_

"_If only they took heed of my warning." He continued, his sad tone changed back to its spiteful tone. "If only HE took heed of my warning, you would still be alive."_

_The monitor displayed the progress of the ongoing effect after the injections took place._

_/PROJECT-NEMESIS-Z-: 99% REMAINING/_

"_Instead, they used you." The image of a golden haired warrioress fighting strange floating creatures flashed in his mind._

"_Caged you." The image of a the same woman, fighting against a group of smaller unknown creatures in a glass dome while being watched by men and women in white lab coat, followed the first image in his mind._

"_Killed you" the image changed into the scene of the same woman, who was heavily transformed, being engulfed in a giant ball of light._

"_And as if those things were not enough, they desecrated your body!" The memory changed into the image of the same woman, whose mangled body was now crystalized, encased and suspended in a giant canister of glass._

"_But not for long..." a vicious smile was dawned on his face._

"_They will pay for what they have done to me" He rose to his feet and walked to the glowing cylinders of glass. There was something suspended in the glowing liquid within the canister. The man planted his palm on the glass. "But most importantly, they will pay for what they have done to you, Maria." The liquid within the tube began to ripple._

"_They chose to ignore my warning, my alternative." The liquid's rippling was getting more intense._

"_And they will pay dearly for that with all of their belongings and possessions" The color of the glowing liquid changed, from eerie green into crimson blood. _

"_Even if what's left were only their maggot-ridden corpses!"_

_The thing within the liquid showed itself: a coiling skeleton of a snake with human skull for its head! Fortunately, it was already dead and now drifting without direction in the liquid. Same corpses revealed themselves in the tubes, intensifying the room's sinister atmosphere to greater extent._

"_Just you wait, Maria." The man said, as he marveled the dead creatures in the tubes. "I will avenge you" He brushed the glass canister with right hand, as if he was trying to stroke the dead thing within. "As long as I, Armand Pradoyo, still draw breath!" The man solemnly swore while his left hand clenched into a fist, crumpling the picture of a woman in it._

* * *

Year 2030 A.D.

It was the time when technology reached the height that men had never dreamed before. It was the age of progress where advancement happened in matter of seconds. Humanity was no longer bound by the obsolete need of fossil fuel, and spacefaring ships were able to uncover more and more dark parts of the space. It was truly the zenith of human civilization. Yet the motivation for such advancement was not purely the motivation of improving the lives of mankind. No, in truth the motivation for such progress was caused by the primary instinct to survive.

In 2012, unknown beings, that were considered as the bane of humanity descended from the darkness to the earth. These beings, which were dubbed as "Novas" who possessed power unknown and uncombattable, were soon claiming thousands of lives in matter of days. Humanity resisted vainly, as every advanced arsenal that they possessed was unable to deal even a scratch to the creatures' bodies. Chaos soon fell and civilization began to crumble. It was seemed that the promised Armageddon had arrived in the form of the Novas, only to be prevented by a single individual. When all hope seemed to be lost, salvation came in the form of a golden haired young woman named Maria Lancelot. With her coming, the nigh godly Novas soon found their match and not long after that, fell in great numbers like swatted flies. The battlefield was leveled to equal ground for both sides, and the uncombattables soon found out that they were killable. Both sides began to adapt and strategize their moves, and earth soon became a massive battleground of the clashing titanic forces.

Although the situation was only improving so little that it was hardly worthy to be called an improvement, in the eyes of humanity, it was the time of hope. Through the golden haired warrioress, the existence of being that functioned as the counter-balance to the Novas, which was known as 'Pandora', was made known to the world. Unfortunately, no other Pandora was ever found at that time, effectively making Maria Lancelot as the first and the only Pandora in the world. She was considered to be the only best hope that the world possessed for the survival of mankind. With her power to manifest invincible weapon out of thin air to combat the Novas, which was dubbed the Volt weapon, and her nigh impossible speed that couldn't even be compared to the fleetest of the fighter jets, Maria Lancelot found herself to be the champion of mankind. Brandishing her massive gauntlets of terrible power, she launched herself into the battlefield, slaying Novas left and right. Before long, countries and powerful companies began to invest their interest in the matter of Pandora. Scientists were hired in grand scale in order to expand the knowledge regarding the Novas and Pandora. Researches after researches were made, yet no result was made concerning the matter of replicating the power of Pandora. Every attempt to create artificial Pandora resulted in utter failure. In the meantime, Maria Lancelot kept on fighting tirelessly. In her mindset, she was the only thing that stood before mankind and total annihilation, and with it, she became a cold weapon of Nova-slaying. Her emotion and her youth were suppressed by her responsibility.

However, they all changed on the day she met three pivotal figures that would change her destiny.

Those three individuals were not any random persons. They were the geniuses whose contribution had ensured that the world still stood today. They all shared the same unnatural interest on Novas and Pandora. They too were people of power and intellect. These people were:

-. Dr. Aoi Gengo, the Japanese scientist who was considered to be one of the youngest and the greatest mind in the 21st century, due to the fact of his work in uncovering the truth about the anatomies, and the abilities of the Novas. Thanks to his work, Novas were now categorized according to their sizes and strength,

-. Howard L. Bridget, head of the wealthy and mighty L. Bridget family which was one of the great families in the globe that clutched the world's economy. His nigh-unlimited wealth had ensured that researches on Novas and Pandora kept on running until this very day,

-. And finally, last but not in the slightest the least, was the enigmatic Dr. Armand Pradoyo, the eccentric Indonesian anthropologist, archaeologist and bio scientist whose work was the foundation on every theories regarding Novas and Pandora, including the work of Dr. Aoi Gengo.

The life of the once cold and emotionless weapon of Nova extermination was changed at the moment she found friendship with the three young, but very bright and powerful men.

It was not a surprise that the friendship between those youths inspired many great things in each passing days.

Great power tends to attract another great power, either to amalgamate or to conquer. The same went to Maria, Gengo, Howard and Armand. But before the Pandora joined the company of those great men, it was the triumvirate of those three powerful men that was founded first. It all started greatly due to the works of Dr. Armand Pradoyo. Shortly after the emergence of the first Pandora, Dr. Armand Pradoyo, found the similarity of the enemies of the mankind and their bane with the inscriptions found in ancient tablets unearthed in an archaeological site in Bali, Indonesia. He immediately published his dissertation about his theory on Novas and Pandoras; that those beings of unimaginable power had walked on the earth before. This, of course, instantaneously piqued Aoi Gengo's interest, since he had been keeping tabs on every information and discovery regarding Novas and Pandoras. He wasted no time in contacting the Indonesian scientist, and telling him his wish to recruit the Indonesian to his team of researchers. Backed by his old college friend, the young billionaire Howard L. Bridget, who also shared his interest, the Japanese scientist was not exaggerating when he promised fortune to the eccentric Indonesian.

To his surprise, Dr. Armand Pradoyo flatly declined his offer, stating that he had his own research to be done, thus barring the Japanese scientist in gaining more vital information regarding the existence of ancient Novas and Pandoras. Despite of the stern decline, the Japanese was headstrong. Novas and Pandoras were his life's passion and he would not let this Indonesian upstart hampered it. And thus, proposals after proposals and invitations after invitations mere made by Dr. Aoi Gengo, only to be totally rejected by the Indonesian who shared the Japanese's trait of impetuousness. After an entire week of proposing and rejecting, Howard L. Bridget, who was the voice reason of the three, had had just enough of the childish act of the two pig-headed scientists. He forcefully dragged the Japanese scientist into his personal jet, travelled to Jakarta, and together they personally went to the eccentric Indonesian's abode. It was an understatement to say that Dr. Armand Pradoyo was taken by surprise by such act. He could never think that those powerful men would humbly came to his house simply to ask for his expertise. Won by Howard's silver tongue and Gengo's honesty, Dr. Armand Pradoyo finally relented and agreed to share his knowledge.

With the Indonesian joining the party, researches on Nova finally took a better turn and results came pouring in. Through the ancient stone tablets, it was found out that the Novas encountered in 2012 were not the first of their kind to descend upon the world, and also that Maria Lancelot was not the first champion of mankind that stood against such threats. The Sanskrit writings and carvings on the tablets revealed that when civilization just started its first step, the Novas or as described in the Sanskrit writings as 'Asuras' and 'Rakshasas' had already spread its terror in the hearts of the primitive men and massacred many lives with their unimaginable power. The time when those Asuras and Rakshasas reigned over the earth was the time of suffering for mankind. Fortunately, there were unique individuals who possessed the powers and abilities to combat those monsters. These individuals, the ancient 'Pandoras' who according to the ancient tablets 'Ksatriyas', stood up for mankind in its darkest times. Like the present day Pandora, these Ksatriyas slayed the Asuras and Rakshasas with mighty weapons that they generated out of nothing. Some of these warriors had their name engraved in famous epochs that retold their epic deeds. Names like 'Bima', 'Gatot Kaca', 'Arjuna', 'the twin Nakula and Sadewa', 'Yudhistira', and 'Kresna' were some of those Ksatriyas.

Because of the Sanskrit records, the theories on Novas could be established thus giving a clear knowledge on their strengths and weaknesses. Although these theories benefitted mankind greatly in their fight against the Novas, there were still some questions left unanswered. Those questions arose from the account written in Sanskrit on the stone tablets. Most of the scientists theorized that Pandora is always a female, since Maria Lancelot was the only Pandora to ever be found in the world. It was contradictory to the information found in the tablets that stated that the ancient time Pandoras, the Ksatriyas were not only females but also males. Along with this mystery, there were still many vagueness regarding the Novas and Pandora, such as "What makes the Novas to reappear after thousands of years?" and "Why there is only a Pandora to emerge presently while there were many in the past?" Yet, given that in the present, all efforts were directed in how to deal the Novas effectively rather than uncovering the origins of the Novas and Pandora, no one was giving much thought about those questions, except Dr. Aoi Gengo, Howard L. Bridget and Dr. Armand Pradoyo. Since they both shared the same interest, they also shared the same suspicion. But after meeting Maria Lancelot in person for the first time, those thoughts seemed to melt away.

* * *

In spring 2018, deep within an undisclosed private facility, funded jointly by Government of several countries and some private sectors, the three bright and powerful youth met the only Pandora in the world for the first time. Normal people would look Maria in fear and suspicion, since her power was completely unworldly. Normal scientist would look her simply as a prized specimen, waiting to be experimented and dissected. Politicians would look her as a means to acquire control and support. It was not strange that Maria did not have a friend. But when three individuals consisting of Gengo, Howard and Armand, she knew that her destiny was intertwined with those youth. When Gengo, Howard and Armand looked upon the Pandora, they were dumbstruck. In their eyes, it was not a weapon, a monster, a specimen or a tool. In the eyes, they see a goddess. It didn't take long for those youth to be closely acquainted with. Despite of their status, their wealth, their influence and their power, those youths became the best of friends. Soon, Maria found herself to be part of the party of those men. With her joining, the triumvirate was dissolved and in turn, a new power arose. Created under the pact in ridding the world from the Novas, the youth pooled their resources that they could muster, to create a Nova extermination organization that was unbounded by the petty limitation of countries, religions and ideologies. Thus the organization called Chevalier was born.

The Chevalier was having a great time of its life. Deemed as a righteous and noble organization that strived to preserve the mankind against the threats of Novas, the public opinion was all time high and positive. With each battle kept being won by Maria with the help of her friends through Chevalier, their reputation began to swell in tremendous speed. Supports and sponsorship from superpower countries, influential families and titanic companies flooded into the organization's doorstep. Many powerful individuals representing those countries, families and companies were filing for membership into the Chevalier. The organization's power began to increase. Unknowing to many, the feeling of the three powerful men of the chevalier toward the beautiful Pandora was also heightening.

What started as friendship now became a feeling of craving for the Pandora's affection. The youth, now turned to fine gentlemen, began to devise strategies and ploys to win the heart of the beautiful maiden. Unfortunately, one of the gentlemen had to give up his dream in winning Maria's love for the sake of greater good. Howard L. Bridget was the said man, since he had to engage himself to a daughter of an influential family for the sake of securing powerful support for the Chevalier. Yet, he let it go with an open heart, leaving the competition to the two stubborn scientists.

Although stubbornness was considered to be a bad trait, but when it was employed carefully and patiently, it could be an effective weapon to win the maiden's heart. Dr. Aoi Gengo and Dr. Armand Pradoyo utilized their unique attractiveness and their own charm in a battle for Maria's love. Dr. Aoi Gengo made use of his Japanese good looks, and his kind and warm charisma to attract her attention. Meanwhile, Dr. Armand Pradoyo employed his natural Javanese smart looks, and his cool and calculated personality in order to achieve the same goal. Maria found those ploys to be amusing and yet she pretended that she did not realized them by playing her cold and emotionless persona, despite that those ploys were obvious enough like sore thumbs. Although she found it amusing to see those geniuses were squirming in restless curiosity and confusion, she was also happy to know that those attractively looking scientist had very strong feelings for her. She likened Gengo with his warm characteristic as the sun, while Armand with his rationality as the moon. She was romantically attracted to both men, yet in the end, it was Gengo's feeling that she reciprocated.

Although being rejected, Armand Pradoyo conceded defeat with an open heart. Aoi Gengo, although was his rival in love, was also one of his truest friend, and Maria was his best friend before she became his crush. What is a friend if he cannot wish for his friends' happiness, right? In the end, despite of their relationship, the three men and the Pandora were still the best of friends, supporting each and every one in time of need. As things were going smoothly for them, a calamitous storm approached to test each and every one of them.

Despite of the overflowing supports from the world, the battle against the Novas were getting fiercer for each clashes. The Novas, after knowing the existence of the power that could slay them, began to invade with greater number and greater rate. Although Maria Lancelot nigh-invincible power managed to fight them off and made her to be the victor in the end, the toll of each battle began to weigh her down. She had almost a little time to recuperate after each clashes. Physical changes began to appear on her as well. Vertical slits over each of her pupils, large crystal wing-like protrusion on her back that appeared in every Nova clashes, and hexagonal scales on parts of her skin were some of those changes. She kept on placing a cheerful smile on her face when she was asked about her feelings or her conditions, despite of the alarming signs of transformation all over her body. Dr. Armand Pradoyo saw though his friend's façade. He was extremely worried about her condition and her transformation that he put forward a proposition to stop deploying Maria on any Nova clashes until her condition improved, before the Chevalier's board. He also suggested that in Maria's absence, every efforts to defeat Novas was to be diverted into evacuating the invaded area's citizens to safety. Such proposition was undoubtedly ruled out not only by the board members of the Chevalier but also by his friend and especially by Maria herself. Not wanting to be found vulnerable by the world, the chevalier absolutely declined such outrageous notion. Howard and Gengo, although believed that their friend's fear was reasonable, was unable to agree to it since without the presence of a Pandora, evacuating civilians would turn into a disastrous failure. And finally, Maria furiously rejected such idea while reprimanding Armand as a selfish man who only cared for his private interest rather than the interest of many. His relationship with his friend and with Maria became strained and it kept on being so until the fateful day happened.

* * *

On July 2020, a Nova clash like never before occurred in the bay of Hong Kong. Twelve level-S Novas appeared out of nowhere to unleash hell upon the earth. Like every other clashes, Maria Lancelot was deployed was deployed onto the battlefield. Like always, she manifested her volt weapon out of thin air and began fighting the enemies with her usual solid cold determination. And like always, the Novas were totally obliterated and Maria came back as the victor. Yet, the price for that victory was too great. Instead of a living smiling woman, what came back was a crystalized mangled corpse that was suspended in a giant tube of glass.

It was the time of great mourning. The world lost its only hope of salvation. Chevalier lost its most valuable asset. Howard lost his most dear friend and Gengo lost his beloved. But for Armand, he lost his purpose to live. He grieved like he never grieved before. He nearly lost his reason and his sanity when he looked for the first time her lifeless crystalized body suspended inside of the canister. He could only yell like a madman for hours before he was restrained by his colleagues and his friends. By the time he regained his senses, he was no longer the same eccentric and witty Indonesian scientist he was used to be.

He became spiteful, pointing fingers to almost everyone in Chevalier and calling them responsible for the death of the world's only Pandora. He greatly blamed his friends, especially Aoi Gengo for being the primary cause of Maria's death. Such accusations resulted in the end of their long friendship. Soon he was shunned not only by his former friend, but also by his fellow members of Chevalier. His ostracism was due not only that he lost support from the fellow founders of the organization, but also that he had threatened to destroy the body of Maria Lancelot when he learnt the decision of the Chevalier's board in preserving such remains in order to be studied. He considered such decision were utterly disrespectful to their heroine who deserved to be given a proper burial rather than being just another specimen in the laboratory. Unfortunately, his disagreement and threat soon fell under the greater coercion and duress from other members who possessed more power than him. In the end he could only comply with such decision.

Still, deep in his heart was searing hate. He swore in his mind that he will see that Maria's death will be avenged. Such intention would be realized by searching for another power to combat the Novas. Dr. Armand Pradoyo believed there were other powers at play in the past that were responsible for the mysterious vanishing of the Novas for thousands of years, and also were responsible for the extinction of male Pandoras. He deserted his current project in chevalier and returned to his old researches: the ancient Sanskrit tablets. In those stone slabs, he found a record that told a story of 'Demons' who also fought the Asuras and Rakshasas. But unlike the Ksatriyas who fought the monster in order to protect the mankind, those "Demons" simply slay those monsters for nourishment. The slabs portrayed that those 'Demons' were the predator to the Asuras and Rakshasas. However, the tablets did not yield any important information regarding those 'Demons' since such knowledge were considered heretical at that time.

Driven by thirst of knowledge and vengeance, Dr. Armand Pradoyo embarked on a journey to uncover the truth about those 'Demons'. He left the Chevalier under the pretext of taking a vacation. No one seemed to mind for he was a firebrand in the organization. And thus, Dr. Armand Pradoyo journeyed back to his homeland to begin his search. For almost two years, he sought for the answer, only to found dead ends and tall-tales. He was on the edge to be crestfallen, until one day he found the objects he had been looking for. Led by one of the tablet of heretical content that he had acquired deep in the ancient ruins of Syailendra Dynasty in Sumatra, Dr. Armand Pradoyo discovered a secret tomb beneath the ruins of the ancient Majapahit Kingdom within the jungle of Borneo. The tomb held a single Sanskrit word up on its ancient gate, which was read 'Syaitan' or in other word 'Demons'. What lay inside were corpses of the predators of the Novas. Some were gigantic while others were small. The remains of such creatures revealed that those Syaitans must be terrifying beings during the time they walked on the earth. Unfortunately, many of those remains had been decomposed greatly, that during the excavation of the tomb and the harvesting of the corpses' genetic material, only a handful of usable Syaitans' genes could be harvested. Still, his theory on the existence of such beings that were the terror to the Novas was right, and he returned to the chevalier headquarters with genetic samples of the Syaitans and also a triumphant smile on his face. Unfortunately, what awaited him was not a hero's welcome.

* * *

On August 2022, Dr. Armand Pradoyo returned to the Chevalier headquarters, only to found the organization that he had helped to establish had changed into something he could not recognize. He found out that during his leave, the Chevalier's scientists, under the leadership of Dr. Aoi Gengo, had discovered that Maria's crystalized tissues could be cultured and reproduced to create small hexagonal bio-implants, which were dubbed 'Stigmatas'. These Stigmatas would then be implanted to compatible female recipients, since there were no compatible male recipients that could directly be implanted with those Stigmatas. Such procedure would create Pandoras in greater quantity, with a wide variety of power levels, abilities and volt weapons in each and every one of them, all according to the numbers of the implants that they had on them. Not only that, the scientists also discovered that the implanted Stigmatas could be 'shared' by every Pandora to any matching male partner through a fully physical rite called 'Baptism'. The 'Baptized' male partner, or widely known as 'Limiter' would possess an unique ability called 'Freezing', an ability to generate area to restrict the movement of the Novas and to cancel the Novas' own area of freezing. The discovery of creating armies of Pandoras and Limiters was considered to be the one of the greatest breakthrough in the scientific world of the century. Despite of the inherent danger of sharing the same fate as Maria or even worse, the project of creating armies of Pandoras and Limiters was encouraged. No longer had the mankind to rely solely on the shoulder of an individual for the sake of its survival, for now hundreds of warriors of unimaginable power were ready in its disposal. All of these were due to the great sacrifice of the savior of mankind, Maria Lancelot, who Chevalier had considered to be its Goddess.

Dr. Armand Pradoyo obviously did not share such view or such delight. Instead, he viewed them all to be deeds of ultimate sacrilege and treason. He also furiously declared that the chevalier had deviated from its noble ideas by utilizing perverted science in defiling the body of their martyr, which resulted in creating more harm rather than good. He was so vehement in admonishing their folly, that he forgotten to prove his theory and show his discoveries. He would see the benefit of such negligence in the future.

The members of the Chevalier and their scientists did not take such admonishment lightly. To them, what the troublemakers had said were insults, and such insults demanded a harsh repercussion. Already a troublemaker and a liability within the organization, it did not take long for Dr. Armand Pradoyo to lose his reputation in chevalier and finally his membership. He was soon disavowed and denounced by people who he once called his friends. His lifeworks were deemed by the world scientific institution as works of pseudoscience, effectively destroying his long hard earned credibility. He was also framed by other members of the Chevalier of corruption, thus terminating his membership and losing his prized tablets and artifacts to the Chevalier. In the end, betrayed and deceived, Dr. Armand Pradoyo was left with only a handful of his belongings and sent back to the obscurity. His life did not get easier after that. He returned to Indonesia, only to received more scorns and mocking. He was denied of working in every education institutions and medical institutions, even though he was qualified. Before long, he was forced to take a demeaning work as a small time doctor of a deprived community clinic in slums of Jakarta. In the eyes of Chevalier, Dr. Armand Pradoyo is another sickly dog, waiting to die in a gutter. Yet, like every dog, Armand still had fangs.

* * *

October 2045.

25 years after the death of the first Pandora.

In an abandoned warehouse somewhere located in the Jakarta, Indonesia. It was already past midnight, but the city never truly slept.

"DAMMIT!" A man roared while sweeping away the things on the table with fury, making them all fell with a loud noise.

"WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!" He hammered his fist on the table, punched through the computer screen and smashed the small test tubes with his bare hands. Blood started to drip from the wounds that were caused by the broken glasses. "WHY ARE THEY NOT WORKING!?" His feral roar echoed.

He kicked the metal chair, sending it flying across the room. He flipped the table beside him in rage, spilling its contents on the floor. A big tube of glass crashed the stone floor, fluids and fleshy fetus-like object within it spilled out on the floor. "WHYYYYYYYYY!?" The roaring of a madman continued.

After his dishonorable discharge from the Chevalier and his return to obscurity, Dr. Armand Pradoyo was considered finished in the eyes of his former friends and colleagues. Yet, fate played a different game. Before his fall, Dr. Armand Pradoyo had successfully and stealthily smuggled his most recent and most important findings from Chevalier's greedy grasp. And with his return to his homeland, he continued his research secretly. While he played the broken and humiliated small run-down community doctor during the day, he became a vengeful genius at night.

"RRRRRRAAAAHHHH!" The mad doctor sent piles of papers away with a sweep from his hand. The dim lighting of the room revealed the contents of the documents.

SUBJECT: AKANTOR-Z, RESULT: FAILURE, HOST: DEAD/DISSOLVED.

SUBJECT: UKANLOS-Z, RESULT: FAILURE, HOST: DEAD/CONSUMED.

SUBJECT: RAJANG-Z, RESULT: FAILURE, HOST: DEAD/POISONED.

SUBJECT: RATHALOS-Z, RESULT: FAILURE, HOST: DEAD/IMPLODED.

More and more papers with red capitalized word of FAILURE stamped on them were strewn all over the floor.

"WHY MARIA WHY!?" the mad doctor argued with the non-existent person. "I DID THESE FOR YOU!" He stomped his feet on the papers, tearing them apart under his soles.

"I have bartered my soul to the devil for you!" He kept on stomping and kicking the papers fiercely.

"Broke every law for you!" pieces of torn papers floated on the air.

"Disregard every moral codes and religious creeds!" He pushed down a piece of machineries in crazed fury. "ALL FOR YOUR SAKE!"

His scream lingered in the room with no one to reply.

The situation inside the warehouse was in complete disarray, as if a typhoon just passed the vast room. Broken pieces of equipment here and there, broken glasses and torn papers almost everywhere on the floor and puddles of chemical liquid swamped parts of the room were part of the chaotic scene inside the warehouse. Dr. Armand Pradoyo was in the middle of such scene, slumping on his knees and perspiring.

"Have I been wrong all this time, Maria?" His rage began to subside and despair soon filled his entire being.

"Was Gengo's way the right way and mine's the wrong one?" He continued to lament in shadows.

During those 25 years of fruitless research, Dr. Armand Pradoyo had transformed from a scientist with dark purpose into a genius kidnapper and serial-killer. Over a hundred of infants, newborns and even unborn, still living fetuses were taken either from the willing, the deceived or the uncooperative mothers. His methods ranged from subtle to the vilest; from sweet talk, bribery and empty promises to downright murder. Given that his job as an obscure doctor in a community of dregs and also that overpopulation in Indonesia had made sure that some missing people were easily forgotten in matter of days, Dr. Armand Pradoyo acquired the necessary host that he needed for his research with almost zero percentage of failure. Those infants were needed to bring back the predator of the Novas to the world. With the same theory to create Pandora, Dr. Armand Pradoyo tried to bond the Syaitan's genetic material with Infant's. Given that the infant's DNA was malleable and easily transmuted, Dr. Armand Pradoyo believed that he could create a Syaitan-human hybrid that would be the true slayer of Novas. Unfortunately, all the time he had dedicated himself to create his tool of vengeance had resulted in utter failure. His efforts in binding the genetic material of two different species resulted in the death of the hosts, which were the infants.

"Was….I…..wrong….all these times?" He kneeled in the puddle of unknown chemicals, dead fetus and pieces of broken machineries. Despair was inches away from claiming his sanity. It was going to be over for the doctor and his research, when suddenly, an intact terminal flashed a beeping light of green.

Fascinated, the doctor came to the terminal, only to be stunned by what the monitor displayed before him.

/SUBJECT:-FATALIS-Z-/

/RESULT:-SUCCESS-/

/HOST:-ALIVE-/-SUCCESSFULLY-BONDED-/

* * *

Time seemed to freeze momentarily. Then when it resumed, a happy yell, a mixture of a victory cry and a triumphant curse was heard.

"In your fucking pussy, Gengo!" Dr. Armand Pradoyo hollered, while punching the empty air. "In your fucking British ass, Howard!"

He leaped joyously, while muttering the same curses to Chevalier and any of its members that he recalled. This unusual victory dance went for several minutes, then suddenly, the doctor remembered that he had forgotten something important. _The Host!_

The mad scientist rushed to the door near him. It led to the basement, which he had transformed into an incubation room where he kept the infants. Arriving into the room filled with rows of metallic and glass tubes and also a terminal and a locker on the right side of the wall, Dr. Armand Pradoyo quickly moved to the only canister that held the only living host while passing the cylindrical coffins of the dead babies. When he found the tube, he immediately disconnected the said tubes from the cables and the machineries, draining the chemicals within it. After the tube was emptied from the disgusting chemicals, the doctor pulled out a healthy fair skinned baby within the tube. The baby was crying in a very loud voice. Good, it means he is not a mute. He examined the infant, while covering it tightly in a thick blanket. The infant was a boy. He had no obvious defect except for a very unusual birthmark on the back of his right hand, which was a mark of a spiky coiling serpent.

"At last." The doctor said while lifting the bundle that held the infant up with both of his hand. "The key of the world's true salvation is in my hand." He couldn't contain his overwhelming emotion anymore, and soon the doctor joined the infant's crying with his own maniacal laughter.

It was a glorious moment for the Indonesian scientist, for in his arm was not only his saving grace, but also the tool of his vengeance. He danced a crazy waltz with the crying baby as his partner. He had never felt his happy after Maria's death, and he relished every seconds of the present moment despite the annoyingly loud voice from the crying baby. Unfortunately, such moment was cut short by the wailing Alarm that suddenly went off.

Dr. Armand Pradoyo, while carrying the infant in his arm, ran to the nearest terminal. He tapped in some commands, and the computer quickly responded with the order by displaying in its monitor the reason why the alarm went wild. The computer screen displayed a live feed of several groups of fully armed men surrounding the warehouse. Those men, whose black attires did not bear any insignias of the police force or the military troopers, moved closer and closer to the building with their MP-5 sub-machineguns ready.

"Damned Chevalier!" The Indonesia scientist hissed while gritting his teeth. "You will not take my masterpiece away from me!" He tapped another command into the terminal. A deletion order was inputted and the computer began to execute the data extermination sequence. The order tapped from the first terminal began to spread and uploaded to the other terminals rapidly like a virus, as each and every terminal began to obliterate the information stored within.

The doctor quickly moved to the nearby locker, opened it and pulled out every items store within it: a white lab coat, a fully loaded Colt .45 pistol and a detonator. He quickly put on his coat and stored the gun in the right pocket of his coat and the detonator in his left. Carrying the infant in one hand, he ran to the opposite side of the room and opened a trapdoor located there. He hastily descended the stairs into the secret tunnel beneath the warehouse, while Chevalier's hired guns began to break the entrance of the warehouse.

When the hired guns successfully broke through the iron door of the warehouse, the doctor were nowhere to be seen and what greeted them inside were terminals and machineries with beeping red lights.

"You will not get anything from there, motherfuckers." The Indonesian scientist said hatefully while gaining more and more distance from the warehouse with the infant in his arm. He pulled out the detonator from his pocket with his free hand. His thumb was on the top of the red button. "Not even you worthless dog-lives!" And with it, his thumb slammed the red button. Next thing that happened was a roaring sound of a mighty beast, followed with a powerful earthquake. The tremor was strong but not enough to collapse the tunnel. "You will not lay your hand upon my masterpiece, dog shits!" he raved like a madman while running through the tunnel with the baby. He had been paranoid since the day his works were seized from him. Because of that he had suspected almost everything and anything to be chevalier profligates. Today, his extreme suspicion was proven true, and his preparation was effective to ensure that what happened within would never come into the light.

Meanwhile on the surface, a burning ruin stood where the warehouse was before. A powerful explosion from the rigged warehouse had reduced the building and everything within it, including the hired guns into piles of burning slags. No survivors were found.

* * *

The wailing siren of the police cars roused the silence of the night. Within minutes, police officers and military personnel were deployed on every major roads of Jakarta. The recent explosion, which had been noticed by the reporters from every local media, had been deemed as terrorists' attack. As the result, the city was now in high alert like the time when the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was bombed in 2004. Terrified pedestrians and street vendors were herded away by the vigilant soldiers and police officers. While the night streets became as busy a in the day, a shadow slinked stealthily in the dark and narrow gangways of the buildings and slums. The baby, who now had found familiarity with the doctor's crazy mumbling, slept soundly in Dr. Armand Pradoyo's arms. The constant shaking from the doctor's running and jumping had dandled the infant into dozing off. _Good, at least he won't be bringing attraction._ The doctor kept on running, avoiding passing patrols by hiding in the shadows that the night provided.

After an hour of running and hiding, the Indonesian scientist reached a building with the big sign of a red cross on it. It was a hospital, the place the doctor just wanted to be. Below the red cross sign, there was a sign with neon lights on it that said "Our Holy Mother Hospital". _What an Irony_. It was not a public hospital, meaning that its security system must not be underestimated.

Entering from the Staff-only entrance while barely avoiding the security camera, Dr. Armand Pradoyo managed to arrive in an emergency ward unnoticeably by the passing doctors and nurses. His get-up in his long white coat had successfully blended him with the crowd. He walked calmly with the slumbering baby in his embrace while sneakily snatching a medical mask and an ID card from a pocket of an unsuspecting medical practitioner. With the help of directions that adorned the wall of the hospital, he finally found the incubation ward.

"Perfect" The Indonesian scientist said in his mind after he noticed that there was no medical staff keeping watch inside the incubation room. He put on a medical mask and gloves, as well as the mask. With the ID card, he gained access through the automated door and inside, he found a vacant incubator. He stored the infant with ease, feeling no emotion or sentiment toward the baby. He considered the infant not as a human being, but rather as an object. Although he walked out the room relieved, something was nagging inside his mind.

He had done the unthinkable by realizing his theory in flesh and blood. He had ensured that his masterpiece would not fall into the hands of Chevalier. Yet, why was he feeling terrible inside? Why was he feeling like he had forgotten to close an opened door or to pick the pot from the stove? Those questions were simply the mirror of his anxiety in his mind.

It was true that he had given the child a chance to have an extraordinary life and the world the chance to be truly free from Novas. Yet, right now, he was leaving the child into the hands of the fate. He would live for sure but his future would be uncertain for he would be without parents to care for him. The infant would just be another orphaned kid that would certainly fall under the care of the social service, and in Indonesia, living as an orphan under the care of the social serviced meant that the boy would be in high probability live a vain life of a drug addict or a criminal. Dr. Armand Pradoyo could not let such thing happened when the fate of mankind was hanging on the balance. The boy had the power that not even the mightiest of the Novas or Pandoras could ever imagine. He would be feared and hated for it and would no longer live a normal life when his destiny unfolded before him. At the very least, the doctor owed the boy a life filled with love from caring parents. "But how?" was the question that echoed in the doctor's mind, while he removed the medical mask and gloves, and stored them into his free pocket on his coat. His current condition was not viable to give the infant such luxurious life of love.

While he pondered on the bench just outside the incubation ward, a man approached. Dr. Armand Pradoyo quickly moved his right hand into the pocket that held his gun. He was ready to pull out his gun and kill the mysterious man that he had presumed as another Chevalier's assassin, only to find that his suspicion was wrong. The approaching man was a tired and sad looking Asian. He wore a simple white shirt and grey long pants. His unkempt black short hair, red eyes and unshaven chin indicated that the man had not been living well for couple of days. The Indonesian scientist viewed that the sad man was not a threat to him, yet his right hand was still in the pocket, tightly gripping the gun.

The sad man walked passing the doctor, and only stopped before the wide glass panel that separated the incubator room and the corridor where the two men were located. The sad man said nothing as he continued to stare the infants through the glass with longing eyes.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" The sad man said, breaking the awkward silence between both men.

"Excuse me?"

"The babies."

"Oh yes." Dr. Armand Pradoyo replied nervously. "They are cute indeed."

"I know right?" The man smilingly said, but his voice was rich in sorrow. Clearly, the man was greatly troubled with something. Nevertheless, Dr. Armand Pradoyo, a heartless and logical person, deemed that such matter was not his concern. He rose to his feet and prepared to leave when the sad man resumed his laments.

"I would give everything in my possession for a child." The sad man said sadly.

PING!

Those words immediately piqued Dr. Armand Pradoyo's interest, as the Indonesian scientist stopped in his track after hearing them. He turned his direction toward the sad man and moved to his side.

"Please excuse my impoliteness, sir." Dr. Armand Pradoyo said in a faked sympathy, offering his hand. "But what happened, mister….."

"Abraham Ardhari, doctor." The weeping man coughed while shaking the offered hand.

"Galang Prakoso." The Indonesia scientist lied. "Now calm down sir, and tell me why are you mourning?"

"How can I not mourn, doctor," The sad man choked. "When my newborn child is dead?"

PING!

Another bell echoed inside the mind of Dr. Armand Pradoyo.

"I am very sorry to hear that, sir" The Indonesian scientist patted the grieving father's shoulder. "What is the cause of the death, sir?"

"The nurses and the doctor explained to me that it's due to the prematurity of the my child's birth, that his undeveloped lungs failed to sustain the little life he had inside of him." The man sobbed. "Oh, my child! My son! Dead!"

"What about the mother? Your wife?"

"My wife is alive and healthy." He calmed down, yet his sorrow had not been doused. "Oh Lord, How am I going to tell this news to her? She will be devastated!" The man continued to wail.

Dr. Armand Pradoyo consoled the grieving father with a happy thought dawned in his mind. He was thanking every invisible omniscience beings that put everything in place for his purpose to be realized. He only needed to make sure one last thing before he could commence his audacious plan.

"Forgive me for my bluntness, sir." Dr. Armand Pradoyo said. "But how could you say that you are willing to part with everything that you had just to have a child? You do not look like a wealthy man to me."

"You are right, doctor, that I am not a millionaire or anything like that." The sad man sobbingly replied. "I and my wife are simply property agents, and while we do not possess the wealth of kings, we live in abundance."

Dr. Armand Pradoyo could only nod while listening attentively to the man's story.

"We have our house renovated to accommodate our child." The man continued his tale sadly. "We even have set aside part of our combined earnings to pay our child's education, from kindergarten until university."

RING-A-DING-DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!

It was high time for Dr. Armand Pradoyo to commence his plan.

"Sir." Dr. Armand Pradoyo said in a solemn voice. "Do you believe in fate?"

The doctor's question brought confusion to the man.

"Eh?"

"Do you believe that there is a greater purpose for every event, glorious or tragic, substantial or insignificant?" Genuineness was in every word. "That everything is predestined as it had been determined by the Divine One?"

"So you say, it's God's will that my child is dead?" Abraham responded.

"No." The doctor countered with the same vigor. "It is God's will that you MUST have a child."

"What!? What are you talking about?"

"I will tell you what had happened at the time when your child is dead, Mr. Abraham." He gestured the sad man to sit with him on the bench. The sad man sat beside the Indonesian scientist.

"Few hours ago, a pregnant young woman was found dying on the doorsteps of the hospital." The doctor told his 'tale'. "We quickly took her in, and checked her vitals as well as her identity."

This time, the grieving man listened attentively to the 'tale'.

"We couldn't identify her, since she didn't have anything to tell us about her." Dr. Armand Pradoyo continued his lies. "We assumed that she must either be one of the inhabitants of the slums, or one of those disavowed teenagers who got knocked-up before marriage."

Abraham was shocked. BINGO! Now, the Indonesian scientist could play a little bit with the man's sentiment on that matter.

"I reckoned that she must be the latter based on her looks, her clothing and the absence of her 'husband', who I assume may have known the whole affair and simply ran off rather than taking a full responsibility."

"Bastard." Abraham interjected angrily.

"Indeed." Dr. Armand Pradoyo nodded in agreement. "And to make things even worse, she was on the verge of giving birth."

"What happened next?" The Asian begged the doctor to continue.

"We did what we had sworn to do: Saving Lives." Dr. Armand Pradoyo assured the man. "We managed to deliver a healthy, fair-skinned infant."

The sad man's face regained its healthy glow.

"But, for the mother…." The doctor's voice trailed in a faked sadness. "We couldn't save her."

"What!? Why!?" the man shook the doctor in disbelief.

"Her condition was already bad when we found her. She was extremely malnourished and to the top of that, she got Tuberculosis." The doctor added. "It was a miracle that she could give birth to a healthy child. Unfortunately, she passed away shortly after giving birth."

Silence followed after the doctor finished his 'tale'. There were too many mixed feellings and clashing thoughts in the mind of the grieving father. Still, he managed to grasp the purpose of the conversation that he had with the doctor. He knew where this tale would lead him to, but his reason was weighing him down.

"Where is that child now?" Abraham asked, breaking the silence once again.

"The child is a boy." The doctor clarified. "And he was over there." Dr. Armand Pradoyo walked to the glass panel and pointed with his finger to the incubation pod on the right corner of the room.

"Can I see him?" Abraham pleaded.

"Sure."

Dr. Armand Pradoyo put the medical mask, gloves and cap back on him. He entered the room and brought the infant that he had stored before to the glass panel where the grieving father was waiting on the opposite side. As soon as the man looked upon the peaceful face of the sleeping infant, his heart immediately melted. Tears began to flow as the emotion was overwhelming him. The doctor stood for a few minutes with the baby in his arms, and then he brought the baby back to his pod despite of Abraham's reluctance to part his gaze from the infant.

Dr. Armand Pradoyo, or currently known to the grieving man as Dr. Galang Prakoso, came out from the room and he was immediately held by the grieving man.

"Doctor, you are not giving me false hope, are you?" Abraham pleaded with teary eyes. "Tell me, if there is any price that I have to pay for this?"

"Abraham." The voice filled with compassion called. "All I give to you is a chance for you and your wife to be the parents for this child. The only thing that I ask of you is a chance for this baby to have parents that would care and love him."

"With all that I have, doctor." The man declared solemnly. "He will be my own flesh and blood, and that I swear."

Dr. Armand Pradoyo smiled. "Then, he is your son."

"Thank you, doctor….thank you so much." Abraham joyfully wept while tightly hugging the doctor. Dr. Armand Pradoyo reluctantly stayed still while the man expressed his gratitude to him.

"But what shall I tell my wife of this? What about the doctor and the nurses that had helped my wife in delivering the baby?" Abraham said in sudden realization while pushing the doctor away from the awkward hug.

"Just tell your wife that your son is alive." The Indonesian scientist said assuring. "And about those doctor and nurses just tell me who they are, and I will take care the rest."

"I know only the doctor's name, but I can show you those nurses."

"Fantastic." Dr. Armand Pradoyo said. "Now, shall we go?"

* * *

Two days had passed after the explosion of a certain warehouse in Jakarta. Normalcy had almost returned to the city, except for "Our Holy Mother" Hospital. During those two days, a doctor name Jarod Kardi and five nurses had taken a sudden leave on a short notice. They were last seen two days ago in a procedure to deliver a baby. It was the last time that they were ever seen in the hospital. Not only that, the hospital security tapes on the night when the explosion occurred had also been missing. Suspicions arose, but in the end, they were left unpursued. The reason? Greed of wealth always triumphs against morals and reasons.

It was afternoon when Dr. Armand Pradoyo walked through the corridors in the third floor of the 12-storey building while looking for the ward where the happy couple was situated. In his hands were the necessary legal documents regarding the identity of the infant. He acquired them in the same fashion that he acquired the security tapes.

"2605….2606….2607, and ah, 2608." Dr. Armand Pradoyo stopped in front of the door and knocked it lightly thrice.

"Come in please!" A jolly voice responded the knocking and with it, the doctor twisted the doorknob and opened the door. He entered into the room and found the happy couple with their baby. Abraham Ardhari was sitting beside his wife who was rested on the bed while embracing their son lovingly. Sarasvati Ardhari, the wife of Abraham Ardhari whose name had been known by Dr. Armand Pradoyo from the hospital's patient records, was beautiful woman in her late twenties. She had a long silken hair of onyx and a snowy skin that seemed to reflect the light. Although the paleness of her face indicated of her weariness, there was a fiery determination in her eyes. The couple greeted the doctor with a very warm smile.

"Excuse me for the intrusion." Dr. Armand Pradoyo politely addressed the couple.

"Ah, doctor Prakoso! Come in! Come in! You're always welcomed in our little family!" The happy and healthy Abraham welcomed with open arms. "Have a seat!" He offered his chair to the doctor. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Thank you for your hospitality." The doctor politely declined. "But I am here only to deliver your son's legal documents. I think these documents will serve your son better if you have decided your son's name." The doctor plainly said while giving the documents to Abraham.

"Thank you very much, doctor." The man gratefully received the documents. "I and my wife have also thought about that. But I have something to say to you, doctor."

Dr. Armand Pradoyo suddenly tense up. "Shit! Not another Chevalier agents!" He cursed in his mind, while his hand reached the gun in his pocket.

"What is it?" The doctor said in a very calm voice. He was ready to pull his gun and snatch the baby away.

"I told my wife everything, doctor." Abraham guiltily confessed with a bowed head.

"You what!?" The doctor responded. He was relieved that they were not the agents, but he was still shocked with the revelation.

"I am very sorry, doctor. But I can't lie to my wife. She had known before I told her everything."

"But…why? How?" Confusion was dawned in the doctor's face.

"Please, doctor. I am maybe just a woman, but I am no fool." Sarasvati finally spoke up. Her voice is a motherly voice tempered in courage and wisdom. "I knew he was not my child at the moment I held him for the first time." She continued, while holding the infant affectionately. Smile still adorned her pale face.

"She then interrogated me, doctor." Abraham piped in. "I had no choice but to tell her."

Dr. Armand Pradoyo facepalmed. "Great, now this couple will reject the boy and I am back to square one." The doctor cursed in his breath.

"And because of you, doctor, that I have a son." The woman said again, stunning the doctor in disbelief.

"Huh?"

"Abraham has told me about what you have asked of us for the boy, and like my husband, I know that even though this child is not made from our flesh and blood, He is our son through our soul and our love." Sarasvati continued while planting a tender kiss on the infant's forehead. "Love is all that matters, right?"

Dr. Armand Pradoyo's jaw dropped. He did not believe what he had heard. Men supposed to be evil, inconsiderate, selfish and deluded. He learned such fact first hand during his last days in Chevalier. But what happened right now had just blown his preconception about men. He couldn't comprehend with present phenomenon that he forgot to reply the woman's remark. The couple chuckled at the doctor's disbelief.

"And you doctor, are part of all that matters in our family!" Abraham slapped the back of the stunned doctor hard, but not hard enough to hurt him. "We are thankful to God, doctor, for having you."

"God, huh?" the doctor commented. "The God that abandoned me, now sent me as His bearer of salvation to this couple?" He muttered in his heart while smiling at the irony. "I suppose you are right." He replied kindly.

"Since you are the lifesaver of our family, my husband and I have agreed that you will be the one to decide our son's name." Sarasvati stated.

"Me?"

"Yes, you, doctor." Abraham said, while laughing. "You are our lifesaver after all."

_Lifesaver? Me?_ Dr. Armand Pradoyo's mind was assaulted by his resurrected conscience. He was never a hero, let alone a savior. In the past, he would rather have mankind to be destroyed rather than to have Maria being sacrificed. He was considered as an egotistical villain for that and he didn't mind. Such nature was humane and he simply lived as one. But right now, these people were calling him a savior.

"Are you sure? He is your son, after all." The doctor spoke.

"Yes, we are." Abraham replied determinedly.

"But please don't give a weird name for our son." Sarasvati added worriedly.

The doctor smiled. He was considered a savior by the people he hardly knew while he knew for himself that the real savior was slumbering peacefully in the embrace of the gentlest woman he had ever known. _If these people wanted me to name their son, then I will give them a proper name for their son. He will be my saving grace! The only thing that I can never be! A Savior!_

"Very well then." Dr. Armand Pradoyo solemnly said. "Given that you family name is Ardhari, this boy's name will be….WISNU PUTRA ARDHA!"

"A fine name, doctor." Abraham praised. "A fine name indeed."

"Welcome to our family, Wisnu." Sarasvati whispered softly to the infant, while hugging the sleeping infant affectionately.

* * *

A day later, in a warm afternoon on the roof of the hospital.

Dr. Armand Pradoyo was leaning on the railings while smoking a cheap cigarette that he had bought from the street vendor outside of the hospital. White smoke was exhaled from his mouth, leaving a spicy tobacco taste on his tongue. He was recalling the past events that had happened recently; the successful experiment, the escape from the Chevalier and authorities, the hiding in the hospital, the murder and bribery of the medical staffs, the adoption and the naming of the infant. He had never thought he had reached this far from his current predicament. He took another puff from the smoke, letting those thoughts to be drowned in the enjoyable taste of the tobacco.

He contemplated in another thought. He had believed that his feelings that made him human had died on the day Maria sacrificed herself for the mankind. Yet, after encountering the Ardharis, especially Sarasvati, his dead feelings and emotions resurfaced and overwhelmed him. He could never imagine that he could cry in joy after naming an infant. After 25 years living like a madman, He was feeling like he was just being reborn. He felt reinvigorated. He felt….humane.

He could still feel the dampness on his cheeks while he puffed another smoke from his mouth. A roaring sound of engine were heard from down below, and the Indonesian scientist gazed the source of the sound. Looking down, He saw a family type MPV leaving the premises.

"Must be the Ardharis." Dr. Armand Pradoyo thought out loud. "They are supposed to check out today."

It was true, for the happy couple with their son were now leaving the hospital further and further away from the hospital to return to their home.

"Good for you, son." The doctor saluted, congratulating the infant from the distance. "Good for you."

The child was now in better hands. The Indonesian scientist confessed in his mind that he was not going to be a good father after all. Despite of that, he wondered if he had a family with Maria, would she be just like Sarasvati?

His trail of thought was soon smashed by the sound of sky descending chopper. Dr. Armand Pradoyo looked up to see two black choppers from few clicks away were approaching the hospital roof. He also heard shouts from down below and when he looked down again; he saw tiny dots in black, like ants, poured out from black rectangular objects that had already entered the premises of the hospital.

"Heh, Chevalier." He smirked while puffing out another smoke from his mouth. The approaching choppers were getting nearer and nearer. "You finally caught up with me."

He pulled out his colt.45 pistol from his pocket. Its safety lock was already disengaged. He had only used a bullet from it, which meant he still got plenty in the magazine. He cocke his gun while shouts demanding of his surrender were produced from the choppers' PAs.

"Blah, blah, ching-chong, lapdogs." Dr. Armand Pradoyo snarled while aiming his gun toward one of the black choppers. His messy greyed hairs and his lab coat were fluttering wildly from the winds produced from the choppers, but he stood his ground. He was ready to unload the bullets toward his incoming captors, but the shot was never come to pass.

"It's up to you now, son." He pulled the gun and repositioned beside his head. The colt.45's nozzle now kissed his temple. "Finish what I have started. That you owe me much." His grip on the handle was firm and His forefinger was wrapping the trigger tightly. He took the final puff from the cigarette in his left hand.

"You're too late, Gengo." He spoke smilingly. "I win this time." He closed his eyes while letting the cigarette to fall from his hand. He felt his clarity increased and his breathing calmed.

He was at peace.

"I am coming, Maria." Dr. Armand Pradoyo whispered, and following it, he pulled the trigger.

The auburn afternoon sky turned to blood red.

* * *

**This chapter is a tribute for:**

**1. Alpine992, whose works inspired me to make this crossover.**

**2. Guillermo Del Toro and Ramin Djawadi, whose works in "Pacific Rim" had given me the same sensation when I, for the first time, was enthralled by the awesomeness of Power Ranger's Megazord and Ultraman. It was the time when I was 6 years old.**

**3. Dr. Armand Pradoyo, the fictional character. Though your labor in love was lost, may your labor in vengeance lives on! URAAAHHHH!**


	2. The Beast's Awakening

**Firstly, I wanted to say that I am very sorry to all of you for this very late update. My laptop got busted recently, so I had to borrow my friend's. Not only that, works and projects were being merciless toward me these weeks. So, once again, I am very sorry.**

**Secondly, I wanted to say that the latest chapter of "He is My Victory, My Excalibur." is on progress. Rest assured, for the next release will be it.**

**Thirdly, I wanted to thank for your follows and favs. I am truly undeserved for such attention from you guys. But, I promise I will not dissapoint you all.**

**Fourthly, for my reviewers:**

**-. Alternativefuturefan27: Thank you for the input and review; they are greatly appreciated. And your guess is right. I forgot to tell you that such scene in the first chapter was derived from that movie (Still, I do not own that movie). And about other beings that are more powerful than Fatalis, you are absolutely right. Still, this is not a fic about a boy that could turn into that giant crimson dragon; it would be odd. The boy would change into something that has connection with Fatalis (wink, wink).**

**-. Anonymous: Thank you and I will try my best.**

**Fifthly, enjoy!**

**(P.S. I do not own either Monster Hunter series or Freezing. Their respective owner does)**

* * *

Chapter 2

The Beast's Awakening

Darkness.

Simple utter darkness, heavy and unpleasant, devoid of life. Its black tendrils covered every open space, letting no light to pass, thus hiding everything within its choking grasp. Suddenly, as if it was stirred by the invisible hand, the darkness began to twirl and break apart, revealing the unholy scene within.

It was a sight of aggression and annihilation. The clearing darkness revealed a burning city under the sky of black and red, with several hovering legless and limbless creatures soaring over the city and discharging rays of light to the earth below. Every time the rays of light impacted on the solid objects, be they buildings, streets, people or everything else, they exploded and evaporated the objects that they impacted to. Streets were littered with dead bodies, and blood flooded the cracked pavement. Ash filled smoke rose from many parts of the burning town, blotting the grim sky with pollutants. Sirens and wails of terror, interspersed with some explosions, were the music of such macabre scene.

In the midst of such hell on earth, a boy was walking lamely on an abandoned street. His form had not passed beyond the age of twelve, but his face shown that he had witnessed gruesome things that were way beyond his age. Blood and dirt covered his wounded and bruised body. He was sobbing, while he was limping. He yelled for help but no voice could ever be produced from his throat, no matter how had exerted himself. He kept on walking, dragging his body to a place somewhere safe, only to have his strength sapped by the ever growing terror within when he passed the piles of the dead in each sides of the street. The sharp smell of the burning stones and metal, alongside with the stench of the rotting dead assaulted his nose. He tried to breathe; to let the fresh air wiped the foul smell that entrenched in his nostrils. Instead of fresh oxygen, Black particles and other pollutants invaded his lungs as he inhaled the air, prohibiting the boy to breathe. As the consequence, the boy was coughing and choking, spits of black liquid. Still it was too much for him that ultimately he vomited more and more black muddy liquid.

He was terrified, confused and convulsing and not long after the vomiting, he staggered and fell on the coarse asphalt. He was vainly catching for air, his consciousness began to ebb away, and coldness began to claim his entire body. His eyelids felt weighed like iron and he was in the last of his strength to keep them open. Before the blurriness turn into utter darkness, in a moment of final defiance, the boy mustered all the will he had within him and shout, yet his tongue moved mutely.

Then, it was nothing.

His vision was lost and his hearing had gone. He could only felt the prickly ground beneath and the foul stench that poisoned his sinus. He wondered how much longer until he lost his other senses, letting the end to claim him. As he pondered in the darkness of his mind while the last ounces of his awareness were melting away, the unexpected suddenly happened.

A tremor was felt and the filth concentration in the air suddenly was swept away by a powerful gust, replacing the polluted air with the fresh one. The boy's lung resuscitated as the air of life cleansed away the filth and pollutant from his respiratory organ. He opened his eyes. His blurry vision cleared gradually, revealing the waiting doom.

A 3-storey tall limbless and legless monster had crashed the nearby building, regained its composure and hovered menacingly before the boy. It appeared that the last of the human resistance defiantly fought back with any remaining arsenal, which resulted in success. The resistance's cannons managed to bring down the sky-hovering beast to the ground. Unfortunately, that was as far as they could get since the grounded monster did not suffer any life-threatening damage. To make things even worse, the grounded beast landed not far from the nearly dying boy. As it regained its composure by pulling itself from the rubbles and hovering back, the monster spotted the boy. Sinister red light was coming out from a single horizontal slit on its head; presumably it was its eyes.

The boy was frozen stiff like a statue. The warmth that he had reacquired from the inhaling the fresh air, was immediately washed away, and cold claimed him once again. He felt as if his blood was drained out of him by a giant invisible syringe. His mind was frantic, shouting and screaming multiple orders at the same time. His brain was screaming him to run, but his muscles and his bones didn't even budge. He could only shiver stiffly while the towering monster was hovering toward him. He tried to close his eyes, but something within him prevented his eyelids to be sealed. He felt as if every nerve in his body had been severed and he had been kept prisoner in his own immobile body. He thought that it must be the overwhelming terror to the alien beast before him, since he was trembling greatly. Yet, something within him, not quite as an emotion of fear, was welling gradually. It was the one that had made him to stay on his ground and witness everything that was happening and would be transpiring.

The monster approached the boy with moderate speed. The orb which was sported on the middle of its chest began to glow brightly as it absorbed energies around it. It was clear that the monster had no intention of sparing the boy. The small dot of light within the orb gradually expanded and within seconds, the orb shone a blinding violet light. The boy realized that the mysterious orb was the monster's weapon, but it was too late. The concentrated energies that stored within the orb were going to be unleashed upon him, reducing him into nothingness. His end was inevitable.

**Throb**

Like an assassin's stealthy strike, a sudden piercing pain stabbed the boy's heart. He clutched his chest while hunching in pain. He screamed in pain, but no voice came out.

**Throb Throb**

Another invisible assault punched into his organ that pumped blood into his blood nerves. He was on his knees, struggling with the gripping pain inside his chest. He gagged; saliva was dripping from the edge of his mouth.

The approaching beast decelerated and stopped. He observed the insignificant little thing before him curiously, yet its glowing chest did not relent in absorbing energies.

**Throb Throb****Throb**

The pain charged again and this time, it was more intense and no gap for each assaults. The pain was too much for the boy, as if something inside was trying to burst out from his chest. He fell once again on the coarse asphalt ground, waiting for death to claim him. He did not care anymore whether his death would be delivered by the monster or by cardiac arrest; He only wished that his sufferings would end right away.

But the death's deliverance never came.

Like a sick joke, he was lying and suffering while being watched by the monster. Although It might not have the emotions and sentiment like the humans, it clearly was enjoying the live show of the dying human before it.

**Throb Throb****Throb****Throb**

This was it. He would die like a sickly mangy mutt. With the unknown ailment that kept on torturing him and the towering beast just watched and waited him to die, the boy felt helpless, angry, and…hungry?

**Throb Throb****Throb****Throb****Throb****Throb**

The pain did not subside. Instead, it spread all over his body, taking con troll of his every nerves, bones and sinews. The unknown feeling that welled up within him, together with the pain, pulsated harmoniously with the beating of his heart, and with every pulse, heat began to rise within him. As if hot magma were pumped from his heart to every part of his body, searing pain was spreading in every tissues of his being. Yet, instead of debilitated by the agony, he found strength.

He pulled himself up from the ground, but he didn't stand upright; instead, he was hunching. Animalistic growl could be heard from his mouth. His eyes looked at the monster hungrily. His mind, tortured by the pain and terror, had been dominated by the alien instinct that had kicked in after the searing pain throbbed all over his body. That alien instinct, originated from an unknown emotion within him, was the reason he stood his ground when the monster approached. It was also the reason why he couldn't keep his eyes shut and it too, was the reason of his unnatural hunger.

The hunger, fueled by the pain, turned into fury, and fury gave rise to power. He began to flex his arms intimidating. Unknown to him, the boy's birthmark, the unusual tattoo of a coiling serpent on the back of his right hand, was glowing ominously in bright red. Hatred to the mighty being before him was so powerful. He didn't understand why, but he was dead set to see the creature in front of him torn to pieces, and it was in his power to do so.

The hovering monster was quickly wary of the insignificant human's change, as it detected the sudden and unnatural change of power within the boy. He unhesitatingly launched its beam of death toward the boy, only to hit an empty ground, leaving a small crater. Startled with the boy's disappearance, the monster scanned the area uneasily. When the beast looked to the side road, it found its target standing on the corpses that were piling there, only to found that its target was no longer a human.

Although the human boy retained the physical traits of human anatomy, there were too many changes on his body to be unnoticed. His forearms were now bound in a pair of mighty gauntlets of onyx and blood. Jet black scales were adorning the gauntlets, while crimson colored sharp spikes were jutting out from the back of the forearms. The clawed fingers of the terrifying gauntlets were stretching and waiting to sink into the flesh of the monster. The boy's legs were also utterly transformed. What used to be just fleshy tissues covering the bones of the lower limbs, lower legs and the feet, were now enfolded in a strange metallic leggings that consisted of cuisses, greaves and boots. They all maintain the same theme with the gauntlets: sporting the color of deep night and blood red, adorned with scales and sharp spikes that went across on the fore plates of the thighs until fore plates on the lower legs. The black metallic scaly boots sported a giant curvy nail on each fore plate that covered the fingers of his feet. Outline of red also appeared on his face like a monstrous war paint. His teeth turned into sharp jagged canines that adorned the boy's hungry and vicious smile. And the last of the boy's changes was his eyes, which now sported a vertical slit of red for iris in each eyes. His plain and torn clothing of a shirt and a pair of jeans that he wore were no longer noteworthy. He stood threateningly with his arms stretched open and his torso bent in the direction of the monster. His feral growls became more intense and fierce.

The monster soon became aware that the human before him was no longer an insignificant fleshling like others that he had killed so far. The creature before it was a threat to its survival and it was the monster's top priority to extinguish the life of the transformed human. The monster quickly entered into a battle stance, straightening its gigantic body while storing more energy into its chest. It generated its freezing field to the area where the creature was located. Hexagonal scale-like shades began to in an attempt to immobilize the transformed boy. Hexagonal scale-like shades manifested in wide area around the monster and the transformed boy was caught in it. The power of the freezing field was to immobilize everything that was caught within it, except for the other Novas. The gravity within the field was quadrupled and soon, the air within the space of the field became so thick that every living thing that was caught in it would surely stop dead. It would be an easy kill for the monster for his foe, the transformed human, would surely be immobilize. Unfortunately for it, that was not happening.

Instead of being immobilized, the half-monster boy was moving freely inside the freezing field. He even jeered at the hovering monster in an undistinguishable shouts and taunting. The monster responded it with barrage of death rays, which the boy evaded so easily. Even the tiniest speck was frozen stiff inside the freezing field, but for the boy who moved and danced so easily and gracefully inside it.

"SSSSSHAAAAAAAAAAA." The boy hissed an animalistic taunt, while he evaded the salvos of death beam with poise. The monster kept on shifting its gigantic hovering torso to adjust its position to its foe but to no avail. Clearly the boy was toying with the monster like a predator toying with its prey before the kill. This time around, it was the monster's turn to feel helplessness against the being that it didn't comprehend with.

After several minutes of pointless game of tag between the monster and the boy, the latter was finally getting tired with the prior failing attempt to reduce him to dust and decided that it was high time for him to end the game…with the death of his assailant. The transformed boy, while standing on another pile of rubbles and corpses, waited for the monster to readjust its position toward him. With the moment that he had been waiting for finally came, the window of chance revealed the target that had been a jewel in the eyes of the boy: The glowing orb of death. It was clear that for the transformed human, the monster's weapon was its own chink in the armor.

The boy, who had been positioned himself in squatting position, exerted his strength to pump massive energy into his bended legs. Power was thrust into his legs and with great force they pushed him from the ground. Like a lightning strike, the boy with his clawed hands thrust in front, leaped in a mighty speed to the unprepared monster's glowing chest. Its fate was sealed, but not without a fight.

The monster, recognizing its inevitable doom, put up a defiant final defense against the incoming end even though its chance of survival was nowhere beyond zero. Before the boy's clawed hand reached the glowing orb on its chest, the monster showered the boy with a pillar of violet light, instead of barrages of smaller beams, from the axis of his strength. The pillar of light, which contained entire energies that the monster had stored within the orb, quickly engulfed the boy. The intensity of the light was so blinding and powerful that it blasted through the boy and went straight through him, evaporating every matter that it touched. With such power that could level mountains easily, there was no chance for the boy to survive. But that was not happening.

"RRRRRAAAAHHHHHH" The boy roared as he burst out from the monster's back with a powerful explosion. Like a reborn phoenix. The transformed boy had survived the deadly pillar of violet light, and pierced through the hovering monster's chest, obliterating the glowing orb into million pieces in the process. The boy landed on the ground behind the monster, with his entire body now covered with sticky bluish green liquid and tiny solid fragments. He relished the gore while the hovering monster, now with a massive hole that went through from his chest and to his back, crashed back onto the ground, only this time it stayed for good.

The boy licked the monster's blood on his hand viciously. The sweet taste of the creature's life liquid lingered on his tongue, finally quenching his long lasting thirst. He felt reinvigorated as he roared a long monstrous roar with his head tilted back and his arms spread open in a welcoming manner. Such gesture was done intentionally, as if the transformed boy was calling for a challenge. He was not satisfied with his previous encounter and his hunger had not been allayed. He needed more enemies to fight and more blood to drink. He needed more Novas!

Another monster responded the call. It appeared behind the boy and the giant carcass of the dead monster. The boy smiled deviously while turning his gaze to his new future victim. He had anticipated its coming and was ready to tear another hole in the new challenger's chest, while flexing his bloodied claws. He leaped directly to the monster, only to be interrupted by a familiar yelling. A sudden brightness enveloped everything including him, pulling him into a complete nothingness of white.

* * *

"WISNUUU!WAKE UPPPP!"

"Huh?"

A male teenager was forcefully pulled out from a twisted dream world. He could only reply dumbly to the ear-splitting scream for his mind was still determining which reality was the real one.

"Coming, mother!" The boy responded with a weak shout. He shifted uncomfortably on his bed, while pushing away the blanket on his body. His head felt like a lead and the pillow underneath it seemed to be glued with it as well. His eyes, even though had opened, were still struggling to get a clear vision of his surroundings. He was in his own modest bedroom. It wasn't much since the room was occupied with a bed, a bookshelf, a cabinet and a complete set of a desk and a chair, but it was cozy enough for him. Added with some posters of rock stars on the wall, a computer on the desk, and a guitar leaning at the corner of the room, it was a perfect den for every youthful boy. The dark room was dimly lighted from the penetrating sunlight through the veiled window. He moved his hand to the bedside table, grasping a wristwatch on it. The arrows inside the watch indicated that it was 6.00 o'clock in the morning. He lazily pulled himself up while his right hand scratched his messy hair.

"Darn, not that dream again." The boy cursed in his mind. He was struggling to get up from the bed's invisible embrace. He was never a morning person.

"YOU ARE GOING TO BE LATE, WISNU!" The ear-splitting shout resumed its salvo.

"Okay, mom!" The boy finally got to his feet and walked to the door of his modest bedroom. Another day had come to the life of Wisnu Putra Ardha.

* * *

It was the year of 2058 A.D; roughly 13 years had passed after the little baby from an obscure origin found acceptance and love in the warmth embrace of the Ardharis. During that time span, the little infant, whose name was Wisnu Putra Ardha, had grown into a teenage boy like any other kid. During that time span, he too, had been loved, taught and disciplined like any other kid as well. Yet unlike any other kid, Wisnu absorbed any knowledge taught to him almost instaneously. Because of such peculiarness, his parent's dedication to get him a proper upbringing was doubled. With his parents' wealth, he was given lessons and tutoring in academic studies, arts and sports. He was became a smart and knowledgeful boy who had a knack for karate and musical instruments, especially guitar. It was no surprise that the boy receive many commendations from his schools and other educational institutions for his merit. Despite of his full-of-activity life, Wisnu too, was quite a social person. His father and mother although was proud of their son's multiple achievements, had stressed to their son the importance to have a balanced life of achievements and social relationship.

Boring his parent's words to his heart, Wisnu made friends to many people, including his classmates and fellow atheletes. He won many hearts due to his easy going appeal and humble nature, despite of the jealous stares that he had to endure. Still, among the people that he had made friends with, he found real companionship with fellow enthusiasts of fantasy and science fiction world. It was not a suprise for a teen of his age to be deeply immersed into the world of wonders of the unreality. Being a lover of comics, video games and movies, Wisnu could relaxedly embrace his geeky side without prejudice in the midst of like minded friends.

"C' mon, big bro! We're gonna be late for school!" A cute squeak was heard from behind Wisnu while he opened the door to the bathroom. The boy turned around to see a girl of his shoulder's height, dressed in a primary school uniform that consisted of a white shirt and a dark red skirt. Her medium length black hair was tied in a ponytail. She had a blue knapsack on her back.

"Give me five, Sasha." Wisnu assured her while he enter the bathroom. The sound of the locking door follower after. "and I'll join you downstair."

"Eh? You don't have breakfast?"

"I'll eat on the go."

"You broke your alarm clock again, didn't you bro?" Sasha said with a raised brow.

"Please don't tell mom about that." Wisnu said with bowed head and clasped palms, a gesture for pleading. "I really, really need this month's allowance to get a new game." He continued pleading to her sister. Sasha rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Okay then. But please hurry up!"

"Okay, okay!"

Meet Sasha Putri Ardha, Wisnu's sister and the true flesh and blood of Abraham and Sarasvati. She was two years younger than Wisnu, but possessed a knack for sport and music just like her brother. She was exceptionally bright even though she had no talents to put her on the same level with his brother. Nevertheless, Abraham and Sarasvati loved thir son and daughter equally, and wisnu loved his sister as he loved his parents. Knowing that she might be jealous and disheartened, Wisnu often let Sasha to win in some friendly competitions in order to cheer her and to encourage her. The ploy, however, was known to her, and even though she was upset to find out the truth, she knew how much her brother cared for her and she was grateful for it. Still, the truth about her brother was never known to her for her parents never told to both Sasha and Wisnu about Wisnu's origin.

After few minutes of rushed bath and the scrubbing of the teeth along with the hasty tidying of the bed, Wisnu, donning in a batik shirt and green trousers and with a toast clasped in his mouth, grabbed his backpack and rushed to the front door to catch the now leaving car.

"Love you, mom!" Wisnu yelled from the front porch after muching the whole toast into his mouth. "Wait for me, dad!"

"Jeez, that son of mine." Sarasvati shook her head while she took away the dishes on the table. "He must have broken that alarm clock again." Sarasvati made a mental note to cut his son's allowance this month.

It was just another day in the happy family life of the Ardharis. It was just a nother normal day.

* * *

Jakarta, 2058 A.D

The capital of the Republic of Indonesia was a jewel of South East Asia. Experiencing its near collapse in August 2030 when the Novas' sudden blitz that killed the head of the state as well as almost every officials of the country, Indonesia and Jakarta was timely rescued by the help of both the Pandoras and the skillful ex-governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo. When the Novas rampaged on the capital and destroyed the House of Representatives, effectively destroying vitals chains of command of the country, resulting in rise chaos and destruction, Joko Widodo, who had been living in quiet retirement in his residence in Solo, quickly took control of the country when he heard the news. With the help of the Pandoras from the West Genetics to quell the Novas threat, Joko Widodo, or famously known as Jokowi, tactfully gained control over Indonesia's numerous provinces through his plain and humble diplomatic means. Realizing the potential of the humble ex-governor, the Chevalier contacted him and supported him in restoring order and stability in Indonesia, before long, the 72nd years old Jokowi became the eight President of the Republic of Indonesia in 2033. Many had suspected that he was a mere puppet for the Chevalier, but with him at the helm of Indonesia's leadership, the suspicion was quickly allayed.

During his time, Indonesia was reinvigorated. Progress in economic, social and cultural sectors was greatly bolstered. Law and democracy were enforced without prejudice; and soon corruption and fanaticism-based violence, the hated felonies in Indonesia, became relics of the past. Indonesia leaped into the long awaited time of prosperity and harmony, even though the threat of Novas never ceased to exist. Still, life was better for the populace of all levels, and with the watchful eye of the Chevalier, the Novas threat could be controlled to minimum threshold.

Jakarta, being the first city in Indonesia to fall prey to the Novas, was quickly rebuilt. No longer the city kept its name of the most jam-packed and disorderly city in South East Asia after the transformation. The capital of Indonesia became one of the most advanced metropolises in the world. Numerous subways and highways that connected every strategic parts of the city, skyscrapers that touched the sky, and eye-pleasing vegetations that adorned every part of the city like a beautiful emeralds were few of the changes that happened in Jakarta. Although the problem of urban slums was never truly resolved, it was considered to be a minor problem in the city for there were only few of them and they were located far from the heart of the city. In short, the transformed Jakarta became the monument of pride and excellence for the people of Indonesia.

Jokowi's term of presidency could be considered as one of the greatest time for Indonesia, since he single-handedly brought the nation out from chaos and into prosperity and advancement. Unfortunately, it was cut short by his passing in 2037 due to extreme exhaustion. Still, his legacy that was born from his tireless work still benefitted the generations to come. He became the role model of posterity and ideal ruler that his successors yearned and strived to be. His policies that promoting progress in economic development, educational progress and the advancement of technology survived until the present time. It was the year of 2058; and Indonesia still stood strong and its people stood proud. Its capital, the beacon of hope and stability for every citizens of Indonesia, kept on shining bright as another morning of hope and passion drove its citizens to strive themselves to excellence.

* * *

The scene of rushed boy that was chasing the ride for school was fast forwarded. After being dropped to the Saint John elementary and high school, Wisnu and Sasha, after expressing appreciation to their father, hurriedly ran to their respective classrooms before the bell started. Passing the four 45 minutes long period of different lessons and a half an hour long recess, the central figure of the story finally found himself daydreaming in one dreary class.

Wisnu stared thoughtlessly to the outside world behind the glass window during another boring lecture given by the moral education teacher. He could never bring himself to be interested in this particular study on ethics and morality. He knew the importance of moral compass for every people since it helped to define right and wrong. But, in the end, it was up to one's own belief to tell them apart, and shoving the ancient teachings of Socrates and Emmanuel Kant's essays into the youth's mind wouldn't surely make him or her to be a good person either.

He never thought that junior high would be less than youthful.

Still, he stared aimlessly at the scene outside the window not because that he was bored with the lesson, but because he was thinking something else. He was troubled with the dream that he had before. The dreams of him fighting the monsters in the midst of ruins had been plaguing him since he was a little kid. Although they didn't happen regularly, the dreams always put him into a transformation into something so…._alien_. The similarity on every dream about the transformed him and the monsters was quite alarming as well; the details and sequences on every dreams were the same. The images from the dream were burned into Wisnu's brain.

_Were they simply a dream…or a memory?_

What troubled him were not only the contents of his dreams, but also the intensifying frequency of such recurring dreams lately. He had once dismissed his worry on his dreams because he had been watching tokusatsus for days. But in the present the dreams plagued his mind, not just for a night, but for a whole week. Wisnu found them quite disturbing, but he was discouraged to tell his dreams to his parents in fear of worrying them and making himself to be a mentally unstable. He pushed back the distressing thoughts away and turned to the brighter side of his imagination of an adventure that was filled with dragons and magic.

"Pssst, Wis." A soft whisper was heard from behind. Wisnu cocked his head back ward and drawn his body nearer toward the desk behind him.

"Sup, Rez?" he replied to person behind him. The said person was Reza CahyoKusuma, Wisnu's classmates and a fellow enthusiast of anime, manga and other fantasy and sci-fi stuffs.

"Have you read this new manwha, _Heating_?"

"No, not yet. Is it on internet already?"

"Yep, and it's quite promising."

"Really?"Wisnu replied excitedly. "Who's the artist? And what's the story about?"

"The man behind that manwha is Kim Dall-Ould, the legendary artist from North Korea." Reza whispered. "The story is about a woman teenager with a special power, who worked together with several boys that possessed other special powers in order to defeat the alien invaders."

Wisnu's enthusiastic face turned to terror. _Oh God….._

"And during the course of the adventure, the heroine developed romantic feelings toward those special boys."

"So basically, it is a harem of males in sci-fi setting."

"Yep."

"And somehow the boys in that manwha are kinda like the Pandoras in real world and the alien invaders are the novas?"

"Bingo! It's cool right?"

"Sorry, Not my thing."Wisnu answered dismissively.

"What? Why?"

"You're kidding me, right?" He responded while facing to the speaker behind him. "From what you told me, it sounds like a cheap rip-off from what's happening right now. Talk about creativity"

"Now, hold on a minute." Reza countered. "Didn't I say there's romance in it as well? Plus the heroine is pretty cute!"

"You really expect me to rea-

"If you and Mr. Reza do not pay attention to this lecture, Mr. Wisnu, both of you can expect detention after school." The moral educator sternly spoke, putting the two boys back into correct sitting position for studying. The whole class was chuckling at those two jokers being reprimanded for a little while, and then the boring lecture continued after the teacher silenced the whole room with a simple cough. As the teacher continued his dull one man show on virtues and vices according to ancient philosophers, Wisnu turned his face to Reza. He saw the boy behind him was smiling toward him while his lips moved mutely to say "I am sorry."

"_Kampret._"Wisnu responded jokingly in the same voiceless gesture.

* * *

The arrows of the clock that was hung on the front wall inside the classroom were showing the time of 11.30 AM. It was the last period; the science class, and it was going to be over soon. _Good_. Wisnu heard his stomach growling. Apparently all the grub that he consumed during the recess couldn't stave off the hunger anymore. It didn't bother him for half an hour later, he would return home and enjoy the homemade lunch with his family. Half an hour later, he would enjoy the beginning of the weekend.

It would just be like any other day.

Only this time, out of the blue, sirens wailed out like never before, signifying the appearance of the Novas in the capital.

Since the attack of the Novas, cities all around the world equipped themselves with Novas early detection system. Numerous detectors that could sense the presence of the Novas' tachyon signature were installed on every strategic areas of the city and hundreds more were set up offshore. Those devices could quickly alerted Chevalier headquarters and every Pandoras stations all over the world, thus giving a quick response to subdue the threats of the Novas. Indonesia was one of the countries that implemented the Novas early detectors in its own regions, especially Jakarta for being its capital. Since the near destruction of Jakarta, the numbers of detectors were doubled all over the capital. Since then, there were no Novas' attacks in Indonesia without alerting the Pandoras.

However, this time was different…..

* * *

"Students are to remain calm while evacuation is in effect!" The voice blared out from the loudspeakers that were installed in every room in the school. "Teachers are to orderly direct the students to the central meeting hall in building B." The message kept on repeating itself.

Students began to scream and cry in terror, but were quickly shushed by the teachers whose faces also sported the looks of fear and anxiety. But orders were orders; the teacher hurriedly directed the students into the massive meeting hall located in the center building of the school grounds. It was the only building in the school grounds that was able to facilitate thousands of people simultaneously without suffering overcrowding and lack of space. Built from mighty materials and furnished with every essential accommodation, the central meeting hall of Saint John elementary and high school could be considered as a giant shelter that could withstand against every kind of disaster. This time, however, the shelter was going to be tested by the alien creatures.

The sound of the soled feet troding on the ceramic floor, accompanied by incoherent chattering and mumbling echoed throughout the corridors of the school. The evacuation had begun.

"Wisnu!" Reza called his friend restlessly. He was affected by the atmosphere of dread and uncertainty. "C'mon man, we gotta go with the others!"

"Okay." Wisnu responded. He went with his friend to join the other students who had gathered in front of the class room, preparing to leave for the meeting hall orderly, when something dawned in his mind.

_Sasha!_

"I need to go somewhere!" Wisnu thought out loud, confusing his fellow classmates and his teacher. He broke up from the row of students and walked to the door, only to be held back the rough yanking of his arm.

"Wisnu! Are you out of your mind?!" Reza yelled while pulling him back. "We need to stay together!"

"Let go off me! I need to find my sister!" Wisnu pulled his arm away from the grip, only to be held in his shoulders by the science teacher.

"Is your sister a student in this school?" the teacher asked the boy with stern look on his face. His grip on the boy's shoulders tightened, giving no chance for Wisnu to break free.

"Yes, sir."Wisnu replied while struggling to break free from the teacher's powerful hold. "She is an elementary student here."

"Then, she'll be alright, boy." The male adult said reassuringly with a smile that was dawned below his thick moustache. He shook the boy lightly to calm him down. "The elementary school students are always the first to be evacuated. She should be in the meeting hall right now, with the rest of her classmates."

Paleness began to recede from Wisnu's face and red tint arose to coat his face's complexion. He was embarrassed for letting his emotion burst out with no apparent reason. He could only hide his face by bowing his head. The teacher smiled at the boy's discomfiture while ruffling the boy's short black hair.

"Now, Mr. Wisnu." The science teacher released his grip on the boy's shoulders. "Would you kindly return to the row? It's going to be our turn to eva-

A powerful tremor shook the ground with powerful force that was enough to put everyone in the school to be on their knees. It lasted for a few seconds.

"An earthquake?" One of the students spoke after the tremor ended.

"Seems like i-

A bright light outside of the classroom penetrated the window and illuminated the room. It was blinding and compelling, unlike the warm comforting sunlight. It was no ordinary light, and when the blinding brightness receded, terror revealed itself.

"Oh God….have mercy on us." The teacher murmured when he looked to the being outside the window. Although the creature was in a quite distance from the school, everyone in the classroom could witness the hovering limbless and legless terror in its glory. Its azure crystalline body was glistening under the light of the sun, professing its beauty and the unimaginable power that hid within it.

_Sasha!_

Wisnu dashed to the door and ran outside, leaving the screams and shouts behind him as he pushed through the crowd of panicking students.

* * *

A small figure was coiling and trembling under the abandoned classroom. She was shivering greatly while tears were rolling out from her eyes. This was not supposed to happen.

When the sirens wailed, even though panic and anxiety descended into the class, the teacher managed to control it before it broke into chaos. All seemed well with the announcement for evacuation to the meeting hall. Class 2-6, one of the classrooms of the elementary students, where little Sasha was located, was waiting their turn to evacuate. Although the atmosphere was tense with restlessness, order and calmness of the classroom was maintained.

Then the earthquake came.

Chaos felled when the tremor ended. Fear stroke to the heart of the inhabitants of that classroom indiscriminately, and in few minutes, both students and the teacher scrambled out from the classroom like a mob of wildebeests. Unknown to them, there was a student who was left behind during the crazed escape. Sasha, who was helping one of her classmates after the earthquake, was pushed down by the mad crowd. She was scared to her bones when she witnessed how irrational and feral humans could become when fear stroke their heart. People that she considered to be friends easily pushed her down and abandoned her without a blink. When the room finally became silent as a grave, Sasha was the only one left. Confused and terrified, she huddled under the teacher's desk. She wanted to run away to escape, but the fear of being pushed away and abandoned held her down. She felt her stomach convulsed and her heart heavy as a rock. She felt sick, dejected and helpless as she crouched on the cold floor. While tears broke down, she uttered a silent prayer in her mind.

"Help me, big bro!"

* * *

_SASHA! PLEASE BE SAFE, SASHA!_

Those words kept on reverberating in his brain. Those words were also the main drive that he kept on running and pushing people away without even catching a breath. He felt nothing else matter than her sister. Wisnu rushed across the field to the meeting hall without even realizing that panicking crowd was all over him.

Mass of people, young and old, poured out from buildings like frenzied ants during rainy days, and like ants, they seek refuge in the massive construction located in the center of the school grounds. Soon, the entrance of the hall was clogged by the fear-stricken mob. Wisnu struggled to push away the frantic mass in order to gain access to the hall.

Even though he was a very strong teenager compared to his friends, when faced with the terrified mob of mad-as-hell mass, he couldn't do anything; the wall of human bodies was too strong to be penetrated. He felt despair in his heart when he saw the fast approaching crowd from the left side. Leading them was a rather stocky female teacher with a short black hair. Wisnu recognized her as Mrs. Lisa Sinaga, an elementary school teacher. She was the current homeroom teacher of the class 2-6and behind her was the elementary class 2-6 itself!

_Sasha!_

Wisnu's eyes quickly scanned the oncoming crowd. Although the running students were fast, Wisnu's could still make out their faces, and Sasha's face was not among of them.

His spirit that was briefly lifted when he saw the incoming students, quickly fell.

_No!_

He scanned again the now amalgamated crowd with the congested mass of men and women in front of the little entrance of the giant building. No signs of his sister's whereabouts.

_No!No!No!No!No!_

He quickly rushed to Mrs. Lisa Sinaga. He pulled the terrified woman by her shoulders and frantically asked her in an intimidating loud voice.

"WHERE IS SASHA? WHERE IS SHE?" Wisnu shook the teacher. His grip on her upper arms tightened, restricting the struggling woman to break free.

"I don't know!" The teacher could only answer meekly.

"You are her teacher! Where is she?!"

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW!" Mrs. Lisa Sinaga yelled despairingly while tears rolled down from her eyes. It was clear that she felt both terror and guilt; the prior was from the earthquake and the latter was from her abandoning her students for the sake of her life.

Wisnu released her after knowing that she had nothing else to help him finding her sister. He wished he could yell to the woman for her cowardice, but he had no time for that. He rushed to the direction of the elementary school buildings, leaving the sobbing teacher and the loud congested crowd behind him.

* * *

"SASHA!" Wisnu yelled on the top of his voice, hoping her sister would respond while he was fast approaching the building where her classroom was. No answer was heard.

"SASHA!" He shouted again as he climbed through the stairs. Sasha's classroom was on the second floor. Passing through empty corridors and classrooms made his Goosebumps rose. He felt that somehow the scene from one of the horror movies that he had watched before manifested itself into reality and he became like one of the victims in that movie. He shivered when the image of the gory death by the zombies flashed in his mind, but such thought was quickly pushed away by the premonition of danger and the thoughts of his sister's safety. He finally found her sister's classroom. Its door was wide open and the room itself was devoid of any sound.

"SASHA!"

"Big bro?" A meek voice came out from under the teacher's desk.

"SASHA!" Wisnu rushed to under the table to see a little girl lying on the floor. Her teary eyes met his restless ones.

"Big bro!" Sasha dashed out from under the table and leaped into his brother's open arms. Wisnu clasped his arm around her tightly like a lifeline. The little girl let out all her overwhelming emotion into her brother's chest. She broke down in tears but it was not teats of sadness; it was tears of relief and joy. Her prayer was answered and her deliverer finally arrived to save her. She uttered incoherent words between sobs, but her brother knew already what she wanted to convey.

Another tremor shook the ground and a loud ground pounding noise accompanied it. Sasha screamed terrified.

"Sasha, we need to get out here fast!" Wisnu told her sister with concern. Her sister nodded.

Holding her hand, Wisnu and Sasha rushed to the exit. The tremor didn't make the escape easier; the trembling floor, the cracking tiles and the motion sickness that was caused by tremor impede the siblings to get out from the building. Few times had Sasha stumbled down, but her brother always helped her to get back on her feet. In few seconds, the siblings finally got out from the building. But before the siblings got further away from the building, they saw before them a towering shadow looming all over the school premises.

The light from the sky was abruptly obstructed by an unknown cause, leaving only shades to flood all over the school grounds. The siblings turn their gazes to the towering object that casted shadow all over them. To their horror, the unknown object, and in high probability, the cause of the wailing sirens and the tremor was a titanic being that looked like a hovering five pointed star. The limbless and legless being was majestic, sporting bluish crystalline body. Its long pyramid-like head sported a red inverted isosceles triangle; its radiant gaze was pressuring. The monster of Wisnu's dream, the being that was portrayed in television and book as the bane of humanity, had appeared in all of its glory before the cowering humans.

"NOVA!"

* * *

Screams of terror were intensified even more when the gigantic hovering being approached the school grounds. Every structures that was obstructing the monster's path, was effortlessly crushed and swatted away like a pile of lego bricks. The humming sound that it made only heightened the being's mysteriousness and dreadfulness.

Unlike a predator, the towering nova eyed the humans as nothing more than annoyance ants. While approaching with a moderate speed to the structure where human concentration was the highest, The Nova charged its unknown energy into the glowing orb on its chest. The scene was all too familiar to Wisnu and the boy knew what would come to pass.

"GET DOWN!" Wisnu shielded her sister with his body and pulled her down. He just prayed that what the monster about to unleash wouldn't reach them.

A violet pillar of light was shot out from the nova's chest, impacting the giant building where most of the students and teachers were hiding. Brightness soon engulfed the whole structure, casing the shelter into the dome of light. Every sound went mute and every sense went dull. The brightness went on for a few minutes, but it felt like it had lasted for years.

As the light died out, and the feeling of awareness to the surroundings returned to the siblings, Wisnu and Sasha recovered from their prostrating position. They were grateful that they were still alive. But when they turned back, the relief that they had acquired turned into horror. A deep, giant crater stood where the building was earlier. There was no trace of any living being; no corpses, bones or any other body parts was found on the premises. All that was left were heaps of ashes and the smell of burning air.

Wisnu and Sasha were utterly terrified that their jaw dropped loose. Seeing that the mighty structure with all of its inhabitants evaporated into nothingness, the siblings felt that all of their strength left their every bones and tendons. Complete fear froze the siblings. It wasn't only the instinctual fear for life, but also the primal fear of power that was beyond comprehension. Sasha began to break into tears again, and although it was almost a silent cry, the monster sensed the feeling of despair and terror from her and her brother. The giant nova turned its crimson gaze to the direction of the terrified siblings and following it was its body.

In most superhero movies, it was the time when a hero appeared to save the distressed from the monster. But right now it was in reality, and in reality, no heroes or heroines would come to save a couple of insignificant persons like Wisnu and Sasha, let alone pandoras. Pandoras were mostly deployed for extermination missions, and evacuation missions at the very least. There was no hope for any of them to show up and rescue the siblings. Realizing such grim fact, Wisnu quickly devised a bold escape plan after seeing the slowly approaching monster.

"Sasha!" Wisnu said to his sister. "Listen carefully. We need to run."

"…..I….can't….too…scared." Sasha replied terrifiedly, her meek voice strugglingly came out from her throat. She was clasping her brother's right arm with both of her hands tightfully. Her feet had given up standing. The distance between the monster and them was getting shorter by seconds.

"Listen, Sasha! There is no much time left! We need to run!"

"…It's no use, big bro! Look what happened to our friends!"

"Kh.." Wisnu was taken aback with the fact that his sister pointed out. The probability of their survival was indeed a zero percentage. The school ground would surely be their graveyard.

Still, Wisnu was not a quitter, and surely he was a brother who would let his sister be hurt.

He knew he would die and he feared dying. But as long as his sister's life was ensured of protection, he would forfeit his own for her sake.

Wisnu pushed her sister away from his hand and ran toward the approaching nova.

"HEY! BIG STUPID STARFISH!" Wisnu yelled loudly, straining his throat. He waved his open arms furiously to gain the cyclopean nova's attention. "OVER HERE, YOU DUMBASS!"

"Big bro!" Sasha screamed panickly as she ran to her brother's side and started pulling his skyward arms down. "What are you doing!?"

"Let go off me, Sasha!" Wisnu pushed her away and kept on waving at the monster. "I will hold it off!"

"WHAT!?"

"I need you to run away! Keep running and don't look back!" Wisnu sternly spoke. "HEYYY! STUPID!"

"I won't leave you!"

"SASHA!? IT'S NOT THE TIME FOR GAMES! RUN!"

"No! You will die!" Sasha struggled to keep her hold on her brother. "I don't want you to die!"

"GET OFF FROM ME AND RU-

Before they realized it, the nova had already before them and wasting no time, it mercilessly unleashed another pillar of light toward them.

_NO!_

Wisnu instinctively wrapped his body around his sister in protective manner, with his back facing the incoming death beam. He knew it would not anything to shield his sister from the impending doom, but at the very least he wanted that his last memory to be a memory of him protecting his sister to the very end.

Their death was inevitable. However, before the violet light hit them, an all-too-familiar feeling suddenly arose inside Wisnu and overtook his entire being. Blackness took over when the straight pillar of light impacted. Its blinding intensity should evaporate the siblings.

However, Wisnu and Sasha were no longer there.

* * *

A massive stream of blazing black flare, appeared out of nowhere, carved across the school's vast field with great speed, leaving trail of burning flames behind. It kept on bolting back and forth in disorderly manner around the giant nova, defacing the once beautiful school ground with big gashes that spewed unnatural black fire.

The presence of such alien stream of flaming energy startled the towering monster, as it tried to fix its gaze toward the traveling jet. Unfortunately for the nova, the speed was too much for the monster to match, and assuming that the torrent of energy was not a living being, the nova didn't employ its freezing ability.

The travelling torrent black kept on gushing around for few minutes, until it stopped behind the nova. The towering monster, sensing the abrupt halt of the torrent, turned its body to the direction of the stopping torrent. As it turned its cyclopean gaze, the nova saw a rising massive blaze of black; its tongues of flame danced menacingly. Still, the flame only stood there eerily, posing no danger or whatsoever to the nova, who stared at it curiously. Just as the nova was about to dismiss such oddity and prepared to leave, It felt sudden spike of energy from the black blaze. The nova took another glace at the source…

And a foot came out from the blackness of the flame.

Instead of a fleshy foot of a man that was covered in cloth and a shoe, what came out was a monstrous foot, covered in black metallic scales with fiery arrays and sported a single great curvy nail of black on its fore front. The entire leg, which was also covered with the same scales and adorned with set of red spikes across the fore front of the shin and across the fore front of the protective plate on the thigh, followed it. Not long after, another leg came out and following it, the whole body of an unknown being.

Before the titanic nova was another monstrous creature of unknown origin. Standing straight on two armored legs was a muscular figure clad in scaly armor made of metals and brimstones. His armored arms and gauntleted hands, which possessed the same themes of scales and spikes like the rest of the armor, were holding a terrified little girl in bridal style. The being's head was a completely enclosed in a metallic helmet, which sported a visage of monstrosity. The face that sported a pair of blood red slanting slits as eyes and a wide lipless, snarling mouth with sharp teeth was facing directly to the nova; its gaze was a gaze of hate. A large curvy magma-colored horn ran from each sides of the being's temple and rested just above its chest. A set of three sharp magma spikes ran from the back of his head to the top. A hybrid of a couple of fins and a mane like decoration of black and red was fastened behind his back; it also sported a set of magma colored spikes along the center line, making it as if the protrusions were the extension of the being's spine. Behind its waist was a short stub-like tail, which also sported jagged barbs on it.

The being breathed heavily; its chest was expanding and contracting laboriously. Yet, in each exhaling, a feral growl could be heard.

"…Big…bro..?" the embraced little girl cried meekly. The being looked at the human that it held. She was trembling in fear. Growling a little, the being gently put down the little human from his hands and stepped forward facing the giant nova.

* * *

"RRRRRRHHHAAAAAAAAAHRRRRR!" The being howled menacingly at the hovering titan with his arms stretched wide open. His clawed fingers were flexing. The being then clenched its right fist and battered it into his left palm. Leaving it momentarily, a spine like stake spurted out from the left palm, and in one fluid movement, the right fist unclenched and the fingers quickly wrapped around the spine like-handle. In the same movement, the long spine like handle was pulled from the left palm and following it, a long crimson blade.

After it was being pulled out, the unknown armored creature swung the blade deftly. In each swings, the blade began to change, as if the weapon was a living being. The back flat edge of the crimson blade was soon covered by metallic scales, and in seconds, sharp protrusions emerged from it. A hand guard shaped like a four edged star, appeared on the collar of the blade, stepping in between the hilt and the blade. Four Sanskrit runes appeared on the ridge of the long curved, single edge sword. Red blade began to glow eerily as the being entered into the battle stance with the long sword in his hands, its sharp edge was pointing to the direction of the nova.

The hovering monster, identifying the being in front of him as a threat, quickly employed its freezing ability and in short moment, hexagonal bee-hive shades emerged from the grounds. In most cases, the foes of the nova would undoubtedly be frozen stiff inside the freezing field. However, this time, to the nova's astonishment, the ground where the being and the human stood was completely unaffected; the shades did not appear on the ground below them.

Knowing the nova's confusion and shock, the blade wielding-being cackled at the hovering monster. It taunted the monster with his growls and howls, the feral jeers of a monster, while raising the blade above his head. The nova responded mercilessly with another blast of its violet death beam, only to be swiftly countered by streams of black energy in the shape of a giant crescent that was emitted from the slashing movement of the blade. The jet of dark energy swallowed the light and it kept on going in straight direction to the nova. The monster quickly drifted aside, avoiding the massive black stream of death. However, such action had created a window for the unknown being to deliver the monster's end.

While the nova swiftly avoided the crescent shaped black stream, the blade wielding monstrosity already leaped forward into the direction of the towering beast. In a swiftness of a tempest, the armored being, already using the monster's moment of weakness and calculating its next movement, arrived to the point in the air where the distance between it and the giant's head was few meters away. As if the time slowed down, the leaping creature stared murderously to the shocked cyclops's eye while stretching its long terrifying red blade to the back. What the giant saw right now was clearly going to be its last.

Then, as time went back to normal, a wide arc of light flashed and a crunching sound of something being severed followed.

The blade-wielding fiend landed with one knee on the ground gracefully while a large object fell in great force beside him. It was the head of the nova, and its eye, the inverted triangle, was still glowing. Its massive body, staggering for a few minutes in the air after its head was removed, went tumbling down with its back collapse first to the ground, creating clouds of dust.

The bane of humanity, nova was no more.

* * *

While coughing and blocking her eyes from the dust, Sasha warily moved closer to the massive carcass. She was relieved that the giant was finally dead, but her feeling of relief was so miniscule to her fear and wariness to the other creature.

_It can't be! It mustn't be!_

She was afraid of the creature; afraid that it might attack her and afraid that it might be her brother.

_No! It can't be! I won't believe it! He is not a monster!_

Braving the uncertainty, she steeled herself and moved closer to the dead monster. As the dust subsided, Sasha saw the sight that she would never forget for the rest of her life.

The blade wielding fiend was on top of the dead giant body. It was reverse holding its blade and moving to the dead giant's chest. When it arrived, the fiend unhesitantly drove its blade into the giant's chest, piercing the orb located on its center and destroying it into pieces away. A small flash of light blasted defiantly for a second then it died down. The fiend pulled its long blade away and roared in delight.

"…..Big…bro..?" Sasha fearfully spoke to the being, only to be stared down by the creature's sinister gaze.

The blade-wielding monster, who became aware of the human's presence, quickly jumped and landed right in front of her. Sasha, shocked by the sudden apperance of the monster right before her, stumbled down with her bottom fell first onto the razed ground. The creature quickly knelt before her and pushed its terrifying visage closer to her face. The rattling sound of the hungry snarls escaped from its toothy mouth.

"...No!...Stay away!...Don't come closer!...Stay away!" Sasha screamed as she pulled her body away, but she could exert no strength to do so. The monster moved closer and extended his unarmed clawed hand toward the panicking girl.

"...Save...me...big..bro." She sobbed as she closed her eyes, waiting for the death to claimed her. With her brother either missing or turned into a bloodthirsty monster, she fell into despair and reclined her fate to incoming horror that was going to devour her.

However, such fate did not happened.

To her suprise, what greeted her was a gentle caress on the cheek. Although the cold scaly hand that stroke her cheek was coarse and slightly unpleasant, there was no evil intention in it.

"...Sa...sha.?" the creatur spoke. Its voice sounded unnatural, but the tone of compassion and care was clear in it.

"Big...bro?" Sasha opened wide her eyes in astonishment. She was scared, but she knew the being in front of her was her dear brother, her brave protector and her hero.

"BIG BRO!" She lunged at her transformed brother and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. His armor was pressing uncomfortably against her body, but she ignored it; she ignored all her fears and prejudices about the creture before her. Right now, it was his brother, Wisnu Putra Ardha.

The little girl cried once again, burying her face in her brother's chest. The armored Wisnu patted her back to calm her down. Few minutes passed quietly; the sobbing ended but the embrace didn't. Both sibling were allaying the fear and worry in each other. Suddenly, realization hit them.

Wisnu, while patting her sister, got a clear look on his hands for the first time. He stopped caressing her back and began to touch his face, only to found more changes upon himself. Sasha, sensing his brother's alarm, broke away from the hug.

"Sa..sha." The transformed Wisnu said to her, his breathing was heavy. It was clear that he too, was frightened of what he had became.

Sasha was trembling in fear of what her brother was about to say. Unfortunately, it happened nonetheless.

"What...am...I?" His unnatural voiced trembled.

* * *

**Know that there is no any political insinuation in this fic. Some similarities about Indonesia are just made up in my mind, so don't bother to discuss about that.**

**This chapter is a tribute to 30 Seconds to Mars. Keep on rocking, guys!**


End file.
